Delightfully Braying News

Michael Adubato of Yanks Abroad lives in Belgium and has been closely following the plight of Oguchi Onyewu for a couple of years now. He tries his best to answer the question of why OO is going to play for Newcastle.
-The Newcastle web site says Onyewu has been called in for the USA match v Mexico next week! Hooray Gooch! Hooray Toon! Hooray Beer!
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BBC Radio is reporting young American U20 & Bolton striker Johan Smith has joined Carlisle United of English League One (the third division). The Bolton homepage confirms it is a loan deal.
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Jack Bell at the New York Times talks to Claudio Reyna about coming home to the Red Bulls.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with a blog report from Houston Dynamo training camp.
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Soccer By Ives is reporting that Red Bulls forward Mike Magee needs knee surgery and will be out of action for about 4-5 months.
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Dallas has re-signed veteran right back Bobby Rhine.
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The Toronto Globe & Mail talks to TFC coach Mo Johnston as his team gets ready to hit the field for the first time.
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Andrea Canales at Soccernet says MLS still has some large hurdles to overcome before the league is looked upon in good light from other countries.
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Yanks Abroad is reporting that Italian team Siena want to sign Colorado draft pick Greg Dalby.
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Another option (a resurrected old one even) for a stadium in Salt Lake City proper. From The SL Tribune.
-To add pressure to the situation, RSL owner Dave "boy oh boy am I ever mad" Checketts has been given permission by MLS to sell the team. Also from the SL Trib.
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Here's the podcast of Glenn Davis's interview with Mark Cuban that I wrote about yesterday.
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Jeff Bradley at MLSnet with his latest installment of First XI: MLS' Mexican influence
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The Lamar Hunt tribute match that I mentioned yesterday, pitting two teams he owned Columbus v Dallas, is to be called The Pioneer Cup. All money raised will go to an organization called Dallas Scores which is an inner-city soccer program in Dallas. The plan is to raise enough money to cover the annual costs of running that organizations soccer league. They will also rename their league the Pioneer League. Admission to the game will be a "name your own price" deal. Minimum being $5 on the end-line & $10 everywhere else. But you cheap bastards damn well better pay more than that when its a fund raiser. Even if you are not in Dallas you can contribute to the cause by purchasing tickets that will be distributed around the city in your name. Tickets can be purchased by calling the club at 888-323-4625 (Thanks to our friends at FC Dallas for the quotes and details.) Here's the official press release.
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Americans in action in the Premiership & Bundesliga today:
-Chelsea v Blackburn
-Man United v Watford
-Newcastle v Aston Villa - Onyewu will not play tonight, but should be in uniform this weekend v Fulham
-Hamburg v Cottbus
-Hannover v Hertha
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Let's check on our favorite Americans in Europe and see how their matches went last night:
-Sheffield United 2-0 Fulham - Brian McBride started and went the distance, while Clint Dempsey came on in the 82nd minute. Carlos Bocanegra got the day off. All for naught as they were never in it.
-West Ham 1-2 Liverpeople - Jonny Spector played 90 minutes in a losing effort. West Ham are in the relegation zone.
-Reading 3-2 Wigan - Marcus Hahnemann went the distance in goal, while Bobby Convey did not play and was not on the bench. Reading sit in 7th and are the "Wigan" of this season, having just been promoted and doing great. Let's hope they are not next seasons "Wigan" as well, seeing as Wigna have now lost 8 in a row and only sit 2 points above relegation.
-Gladbach 0-0 Nurnberg - Captain Kasey Keller got a rare clean sheet for his struggling team. Good job man. But after the game the Gladbach coach Juup Heynckes resigned.
-Wolfsburg 2-2 Eintracht - Kamani Hill came on in the 74th minute as his team tried for the win, but settled for a draw.
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The Modesto Bee with a feature on their hometown boy, USA & Nordsjaelland defender Heath Pearce.
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LA Soccer News has a Q & A with American keeper Brad Friedel of Blackburn.
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Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune says Hugo Sanchez's successful reign as Mexican coach just might rest on his results v the USA.
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Copa Libertadores qualifying action:
Last nights scores:
Deportivo Tachira 1-2 Deportes Tolima - first leg
Velez Sarsfield 3-0 Danubio - first leg
Today's games:
Sporting Cristal v Club America - second leg (0-5 first leg score)
Blooming v Santos - first leg
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After failing to get a win again last night (0-0 at home with Bochum) Bayern Munich fired coach Felix Magath. Their loss. Someone else will get a great coach. Maybe Monchengladbach?
-Bayern has turned right around and re-hired Ottmar Hitzfeld to take over the team immediately. Hitzfeld was fired not even 2 years ago and Magath was given the job then. It's got a bit of a George Steinbrenner-Billy Martin feel to it.
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The Guardian with the fascinating story of Bayern midfielder Hasan Salihamidzic who barely escaped the ugly Balkan conflict when he lived in Sarajevo. Great story.
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Barcelona striker Samuel Etoo is ready to start light training with the team and hopes to be on the field in 3-4 weeks.
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In Kaka's latest diary page for UEFA.com he says hello to his old friend Ronaldo, and has words of advice for former teammate Shevchenko.
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If you remember back a few days I linked to the story of very sick young Canadian girl who got a phone call from her idol David Beckham. Her dream was to be healthy enough to see him play when he joined LA later this year. Sadly she will not get her dream as she passed away on Monday. Damn. From the Toronto Star.

Aaaaw Chew News

Oguchi Onyewu has become a member of Newcastle United Football Club. For now. He has signed with them on loan from his club Standard until the end of the season. The plan is for it to become a full transfer at that time, but that is not written in stone. Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder comments.

Michael Lewis & Dylan Butler at Big Apple Soccer with a story saying the New York Red Bulls are chasing after DaMarcus Beasley and John O'Brien!

Tonight's Soccer Hour with Glenn Davis radio show features guest Marc Cuban, owner of HDNET (which broadcasts a weekly MLS game) and the Dallas Mavericks NBA team. He is a guy with a billion dollars, a million ideas, and even more opinions. This could be really good. I am curious as to what he knows and thinks about soccer. Catch the show locally in Houston at 7pm central time on 790 AM radio, or via the internet at 790 The Sports Animal. You can call in to the show at 713-212-5790. The Houston Chronicle will have an archived podcast of the show in a couple of days.

Matias Donnet will not be back with DC United this season. He has gone back to Argentine and signed with Belgrano.

Andrea Canales with a nice lil rumor tip on her Sideline Views blog - both LA & NY will be flying to games on private chartered planes.

Another hot gossip note from Luis Arroyave at The Red Card: Frenchman Pascal Bedrossian was not only NOT cut by Chicago during the off-season, but they think he is ready to be a real contributor. Who even remembered him?

In more Salt Lake madness, RSL owner Dave Checketts did a conference call with reporters yesterday to clarify his team's stance on failed stadium proposals.
-City officials say no, but others in the area might say yes to a different stadium deal. From the Deseret Morning News.
-The D News also talks to players about the mess. Chris Klein in particular has seen this all before in Kansas City.
-Mostly I agree with Gordon Monson of the Salt Lake Tribune - ENOUGH ALREADY! SHUT THE HELL UP!
-But the best comes from a Big Soccer poster called Fuerza Real who ran into Jeff Cunningham at the Utah Jazz NBA game last night. Cunningham told the guy to "be positive"!

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on the first day of DC United preseason camp. He focuses the story on draft pick Ricky Schramm.
-And for all you DC United fanatics out there, you have to check out the newest Screaming Eagles podcast which features interviews from the first day of camp. Excellent as always.

Bernardo Fallas at the Houston Chronicle reports on the Houston's first day back as well.
-Fallas with a player specific article on Dwayne De Rosario.

Andrea Canales of the LA Soccer News says the Galaxy need to focus most on their defense if they are to succeed next season.

Well, the new owners in Kansas City are putting their money where their mouth is. How long will it last? From Bob Luder of the KC Star.

Dallas and Columbus will play a tribute match for Lamar Hunt - the Pioneer Cup - on March 11 at Pizza Hut Park in Dallas. Great move.

Chivas USA young midfielder Sacha Kljestan will be joined in LA this spring by his brother Gordon who was drafted by the LA Galaxy. From the Seton Hall newspaper, the Setonian.

Here are the actual game match ups for the MLS teams who need to qualify for the US Open Cup (dates to be determined):
Columbus v Los Angeles
Real Salt Lake v Kansas City
Should LA advance they will host the second round game
Should Columbus advance, New York will host the second round game
Should KC advance they will host the second round game
Should RSL advance, Colorado will host the second round game

So what is going on with Team USA as they prepare for Mexico on Feb 7?
-Read the team weblog.
-Andrea Canales talks to Pablo Mastroeni about the big game ahead.
-Canales does a Q & A with Taylor Twellman for Soccer 365.
-The incredibly busy Canales also talked to USA coach Bob Bradley about which European players he is hoping to have for next week. (Don't expect too many solid answers in this one.)
-Want some good old fashioned fluff? USA & DCU defender Bobby Boswell gives his tips for movie going.

I have written an article for Blue Sky Soccer on the status of players from last years Minnesota Thunder roster. Who will and won't be back? I talked to team management to get an update for the upcoming season.

Soccer America lists their Top 20 youth soccer clubs in the USA.

Luis Bueno at the Press Enterprise with a feature story on USA & Blackburn goalkeeper Brad Friedel, and his soccer academy being built in the Cleveland area.

Goal.com has an interview with American defender Jay DeMerit of Watford.

Americans in action in the Premiership & Bundesliga today and tomorrow:
Tuesday-
Sheffield United v Fulham
West Ham v Liverpeople
Reading v Wigan
Gladbach v Nurnberg
Wolfsburg v Eintracht
Wednesday-
Chelsea v Blackburn
Man United v Watford
Newcastle v Aston Villa
Hamburg v Cottbus
Hannover v Hertha

Ronaldo has made it official with Milan and Edgar Davids the same with Ajax. Ricardo Oliveira has been sent to Real Madird by Milan as a part of the Ronaldo deal.
-James Richardson at the Guardian says Ronny may be fat and slow but at 4 million Pounds he's a bargain.
-Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on Ronaldo's chance for success at Milan.
-Ronaldo has scored an astounding 372 goals in 521 games for his club teams!

It's no surprise that the Beckham stories have had a huge impact on the increase in visitors to soccer websites. The website called Compete breaks it down with some statistical analysis and a few opinions on what this could mean for the future.

Paul Marshall at Soccernet writes about how ugly the fan boy scene has gotten at Paris Saint Germain. The Boulogne Boys gang are some very nasty fellows, and their violence led to one of their members being shot and killed by a policeman last fall.

Nike has offered the German football federation 600 million Euros to become their official kit suppliers, replacing Adidas. So what does Adi Dassler's company do to counter this offer?

Here is a story I missed while out having my appendix removed - one of my favorite players, the often injured and haunted Sebastian Diesler of Bayern Munich has decided to retire due to constant long term injuries. This is really sad to me on many levels. The first being his untapped talent. The second being his fight back, time and again, from injury. And thirdly for the rare admission by an athlete that he was fighting depression and staring down the stigma attached to it. I first came to know about him when he played with American Tony Sanneh at Hertha Berlin. He even visited the Twin Cities one time and I got to meet him. He was a very cool guy. We at du Nord wish him the best of luck in whatever he chooses to do next.

Prime Of Your Life News

"I have a good understanding with Jaime. It seems like we've been playing together for three years." Brazilian forward Luciano Emilio talks to Steven Goff about playing with Jaime Moreno after his first day of training with DC United. From the Soccer Insider.

There was a bunch of talk this past weekend about American defender Oguchi Onyewu transferring from Standard Liege in Belgium to Olyimpique Marseille in France. Hell, CNN even had it on their ticker! But there was never any confirmation and the bidding appears to still be continuing with Newcastle now in hot pursuit. The story going on right now has Gooch in Newcastle doing a medical exam and lining up a loan deal. I will try to let you if and when its finalized.
Metrofanatic talks to Alfonso Mondelo, the MLS Director of Player Programs about young player Gabriel Ferrari and how MLS let him get away to Sampdoria even though he was in the Red Bulls youth system.
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Looks like Dallas has lost out on the chance to sign Edgar Davids from Tottenham as he is near a deal with Ajax. Next.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet writes about the ever increasing number of young Americans going directly to Europe and bypassing MLS. Until MLS pays a real wage this will just happen more and more and more. I say good for the players. It's good news for the MLS players union too, cuz this will give them lots of leverage to up the minimum wage, which are a joke by any standard.
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The New York Red Bulls made it official with Dutch keeper Ronald Waterreus. He joins them after a short spell at Alkmaar.
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In the weirdest transfer news of the day MLS Underground says RSL striker Jeff Cunningham is trying to sign a deal with Dedi Ben Dayan's club Netanya in Israel. What is the deal with that? Does he really feel that disrespected by MLS?
-Another weblog - Are You Loyal? - that covers RSL closely says the offer for Cunningham is way too low, and he is going nowhere, ending any negotiations before they got too serious. (Although, his team might be history. See below for all that gore.)
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Andrea Canales at Soccer 365 has a great interview with Mr Eddie Johnson. She says he is way to young to be washed up.
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So what is going on with Team USA? The US based players are training at the Home Depot Center all week getting ready to meet Mexico, and awaiting their European counterparts who will arrive after next weekend's games to fill out the game day roster.
-Andrea Canales of LA Soccer News reports on a scrimmage the team had v UCLA. (Winning 3-2.)
-US Soccer talks briefly to New England forward Taylor Twellman who has just returned from double hernia surgery. Via podcast. Twellman cracks jokes too .... who knew?
-US Soccer has a video look at Jonathan Bornstein as he got his first cap.
-New training camp photos.
-The team weblog.
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Metrofanatic talks to Alfonso Mondelo, the MLS Director of Player Programs about young player Gabriel Ferrari and how MLS let him get away to Sampdoria even though he was in the Red Bulls youth system.
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DC United started training camp today. Steve Goff of the Washington Post looks at their roster.
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Big Houston news, as the Dynamo have begun looking for a place to build their own stadium. From the Houston Chronicle.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Chronicle looks at what the Houston Dynamo will have to do to repeat as league champs.
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And Glenn Davis, also in the Chronicle, gives his views on what youth development should look like.
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With both DC & Houston starting their preseason camps today, Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America gives us a season preview, preview.
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The US Players Assoc site talks to now retired goalkeeper Jonny Walker. Sadly his career ends at age 32 due to back injuries.
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Andrea Canales looks at the logistical changes in store for the LA Galaxy team when Golden Balls arrives on their scene. From the LA Soccer News.
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Tino Palace's latest edition of The Clean Sheet. From MLSnet.
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Frankie Hejduk says NO to Germany and re-signs with Columbus. From the Dispatch.
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Toronto FC coach Mo Johnston does an interview with Toronto Sports Radio where he says he is not interested in players from Europe in their 30's (ie. Neil Lennon). I would assume he is not referring to Canadians currently playing in Europe. You can hear the interview in a link from the excellent Toronto MLS FC blog!!
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Add Aston Villa's often injured midfielder Patrik Berger to the list of Euro players rumored to be heading to MLS.
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In some awesome news, James of the Giant Blog informs me that the LA Riot Squad have purchased a season ticket in their section (138) for Mrs Beckham aka Posh Spice. Her seat will be well protected with a velvet rope. Of course. This is the highest of quality fandom!
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Up in Salt Lake City, things are going very badly for the Real Salt Lake stadium building quest. From the Salt Lake Tribune.
-RSL owner Dave Checketts releases a statement to the press on the subject.
-A local radio station is even reporting (without any direct quotes) that the potential for ANY stadium is dead and Checketts will now look to sell the team. Drama!
-The Deseret Morning News has quotes from the Mayor saying the funding has been rejected. The story also says the team is serious about selling, and will be sold by FRIDAY! Oh please! Enough with the desperate hi-jinx already. You rich bastards should sit down, cool off, and get a deal done.
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The San Jose Mercury News with the latest on Lew Wolff's stadium bid, and Earthquakes rebirth plan.
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This isn't hideous enough to be funny - Chivas USA & Univision will host a reality show where a youngster will try to make the team. Ugh. 200 full on idiots have signed up to make their dreams come true.
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The US Open Cup has clarified the participation of the 12 MLS in this years competition. Word had been spreading that only 8 MLS teams would be in the tournament this year, leading many like me to assume that the 4 teams enter in the SuperLiga would NOT be in the Open Cup. This has proved to be false information. All 12 teams will be entered, but only the top 6 get in automatically. The other 6 will play off for 2 spots. Dates and matchs have not been set. Here is how they break down:
-Teams automatically qualified: Chicago (Defending champs), Chivas USA, DC United, Dallas, Houston & New England
-Teams that need to qualifying: Columbus, Kansas City, Salt Lake, Colorado, Los Angeles & New York
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Remember Troy Dayak - the beastly lookin fella that roamed the back line for the San Jose Earthquakes who retired a couple of years ago? He had taken over the California Cougars indoor team, but this weekend he got the boot. It all sounds a bit crazy to me. From the Stockton Record.
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Let's check in with our favorite Americans in Europe and see how their weekend matches went:
-DaMarcus Beasley - Manchester City - flew past the keeper and got his teams last tally of a 3-1 win over Southampton in the FA Cup. DMB played the whole game on the left wing.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - played the whole match in a 2-1 loss to Offenbach.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - went the full 90 in their 3-0 win over Stoke City in the FA Cup.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - came on as a sub in the 70th minute of a 5-1 win over Heracles.
-Conor Casey - Mainz - he is basically without a club at this point.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - did not play due to red card suspension.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - got the start in the FA Cup. It was his first start in many months s ince the knee injury. He got an assist as his team won 3-2 over Birmingham. Great news!
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played the entire match in defense as his team beat West Ham on the road 0-1 in the FA Cup.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - came on as a sub in the 60th minute of his teams 3-0 win over Stoke City in the FA Cup.
-Benny Feilhaber - Hamburg - came on as a sub in his teams 1-1 draw at Bielefeld.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - yet another shut out by Friedel for red hot Blackburn as they beat Luton Town 4-0 in the FA Cup.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - got the day off as his team won 3-2 over Birmingham in the FA Cup.
-Tim Howard - Everton - team had the weekend off.
-Kasey Keller - Monchengladbach - lost yet again, this time 3-1 to Cottbus. Things are not looking good for Gladbach. Is MLS inching closer to Kasey with every loss.
-Eddie Lewis - Leeds - team had the weekend off.
-Brian McBride - Fulham - started and went the distance, scoring the second goal in his teams 3-0 win over Stoke City in the FA Cup.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - looks like he will leave the team finally. Was not with them this weekend.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - went the full match but his team lost 0-1 to Watford in the FA Cup.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - got his first goal in Germany, but it came very late in a 2-1 loss to Offenbach. He started the match and went the full 90.
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Jay DeMerit also has a new diary entry on his Soccernet page. He says his Watford team intend to avoid relegation despite the insane odds: Mission Impossible (Thanks to BQ for this one.)
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Another American, Kamani Hill, made his German Bundesliga debut with Wolfsburg. The forward came on late and almost scored a goal to tie it up. They lost 2-1 at Hertha. Hill left UCLA last fall and joined Wolfsburg in December. Great for him!
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Denmark finished their tour of the Americas with a 1-1 draw in Honduras. Chris Sorensen scored first for the Danes in the 80th, but Honduras tied it up just 3 minutes later on a goal by Saul Martinez. I did not recognize the names of any of the Hondurans.
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The 4th round of the English FA Cup was played over the past weekend. Here are the results. And the draw for the 5th round was held this morning, so here are those matchups.
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Luis Bueno with his excellent weekly Mexican league review: Jornada 2 Rewind.
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Former Rangers manager Alex McLeish has been named the new manager of Scotland.
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Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian says Bayern Munich are having a horrible season. And by horrible season he means 3rd place in the Bundesliga and in the last 16 of the Champions League. I guess thats horrible.
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Phil Ball of Soccernet imagines the worst for any team - Relegation: The Grim Reaper
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Simon Kuper at the Financial Times on why English Premiership football is the world's most popular version.
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FIFA.com has an interview with Spain & Valencia forward Fernando Morientes. He says he is very happy to be back playing in La Liga, after a not-so-hot run with the Liverpeople.
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Werder Bremen's Croatian striker Ivan Klasnic had a kidney transplant last Thursday. Unfortunately his body has rejected the new kidney and he will have to undergo another surgery when a new donor is found. Sad.
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Michel Platini has unseated Lennart Johansson to become the new president of UEFA. Does this puts a crack in the old boy network that runs soccer's governing bodies? Platini has said he wants to completely overhaul the Champions League and give smaller clubs a better chance to win. This story from Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune.
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Hughes also extols the virtues of 3 glorious goals he saw scored over the weekend in various competitions.
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Our pal Jonah Freedman at the Sports Illustrated writes about the Three R's of recent Brazilian fame: Romario, Ronaldo & Rivaldo.
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Inter Milan won their 14th Serie A match in a row, beating Samp 2-0. Yawn. Marco Materazzi goads some idiot into head butting him again. Yawn.
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Not to sound really freakin corny or anything, but here is a great story about a very sick Canadian girl getting a phone call from David Beckham who tries to make her feel just a little bit better.

On The Move

Hey Palooka's,
Don't know for sure if I will get to the news today, cuz I am going to be traveling. If I get there early enough then I just might post. Stay tuned or see ya Monday.
Adios,
Bruce

Ga Ba Ba Boom News

How come neither ESPN or The New York Times had any mention of Claudio Reyna signing with the New York Red Bulls yesterday or today? Pathetic!

I got a coupla DVD's in the mail the other day from Dave Brett down in Texas. He has a fantastic website Historic Soccer Videotapes! He has been collecting mainly NASL tapes, along with other very cool older games, and I got some of my beloved Minnesota Kicks! One is a game I attended where our boys played Pele and the Cosmos. So very frickin cool to re-live. You have to go to the site now! And if you are sitting on a stash of old game tapes then you need to get them to Dave so this collection can continue to build.
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The story going around says Claudio Reyna's salary from New York is $1 million per year. Not bad. He is gonna wear the #10 shirt. You can watch and read all about his introduction yesterday, at the Red Bulls website.
-Dylan Butler of Big Apple Soccer talks about Reyna's string of injuries, and Reyna is pretty forthcoming with answers.
-Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald on Reyna's desire to succeed in New York.
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Metrofanatic asks a very important question: Just exactly how did MLS let NYRB youth player Gabriel Ferrari go and sign with Sampdoria instead of staying in the home league?
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Do you realize that DC United starts preseason training camp on Monday?!?!?!?! YEEEEEESSS! Let the season begin now! I am ready baby!
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Los Angeles Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas made his way onto former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones's radio show in LA to talk about David Beckham, but first he had to tease us with some of his brilliant music. Here is some video of the event. (Thanks to James from the Giant Blog sending it our way.) James and I agree that one word sums up Lalas these days: Blowhard.
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Adam at This Is American Soccer had a great column yesterday featuring a letter he received from a soccer fan in Scotland. It says a lot about the game in America today. Excellent.
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Soccer America's always great MLS Confidential column tries to figure out who the next American playing in Europe will be that chooses to head home. And other tidbits.
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LA defender Ante Jazic talks to the Toronto Sun about the arrival of Becks at his team.
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Today in Denver the Colorado Rapids officially announced that they will host the 2007 MLS All Star Game v Celtic. The date is set for Thursday July 19, and will be the game of the week on ESPN2.
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Pat Noonan of New England has a knee injury that was discovered while training with Team USA for the Denmark match. He will have further examinations before they determine if he needs surgery or not. He has had a rather rough 12 months of injuries.
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Dallas will play a home-and-away preseason series this year v Atletico Paranaense of Brazil. The two teams will play for the prestigious (cough) USA-Brazil Challenge Cup! The first leg game will be in Brazil on Wed Mar 7th, and the return match Sat Mar 31st.
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26 MLS players were called in by coach Bob Bradley in preparation for next Wednesday's USA match v Mexico. He has requested 8 more unnamed European based players be released from their clubs to join up with the national team early next week. We shall have to wait and see who gets released. Everyone else hooks up in LA at the Home Depot Center today for training. In the end I would expect about 6 Euro players and 12-14 MLS players to make the game day roster. Here is the list of players so far:
G:
Joe Cannon
Matt Pickens
Troy Perkins
Matt Reis
D:
Chris Albright
Bobby Boswell
Jonathan Bornstein
Jimmy Conrad
Todd Dunivant
Bryan Namoff
Michael Parkhurst
Dasan Robinson
Eddie Robinson
M:
Kyle Beckerman
Brian Carroll
Ricardo Clark
Joshua Gros
Sacha Kljestan
Justin Mapp
Pablo Mastroeni
F:
Kenny Cooper
Landon Donovan
Eddie Johnson
Nate Jaqua
Chris Rolfe
Taylor Twellman
-We can speculate who those European based players will and won't be:
Will-
Tim Howard
Carlos Bocanegra
Steve Cherundolo
Jay DeMerit
DaMarcus Beasley
Marcus Hahnemann
Jonathan Spector
Heath Pearce
Won't-
Josh Wolff
Clint Dempsey
Oguchi Onyewu
Bobby Convey
Kasey Keller
Eddie Lewis
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The USA win over Denmark was lessened a little last night when El Salvador beat the Danes 1-0. Former DC United player Eliseo Quintanilla got the goal.
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The English papers have added Newcastle to the list of clubs chasing Oguchi Onyewu!
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LA Soccer News quotes Mexican coach Hugo Sanchez saying that soccer in America is really improving.
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Slams Sports of Canada with a story on Real Salt Lake's California born defender Jack Stewart who is going to play for Canada via citizenship through his parents.
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The 2007 schedule for my Minnesota Thunder was released today. Make your travel plans to come and hang out with me today! I have spare rooms.
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English FA Cup 4th Round is this weekend. Here are all the matches. Below are the two biggest games on the docket - both games will only be shown in the USA on home pay-per-view for $16 or closed circuit for $10 per person, check your local haunts for availability:
Sat-
Manchester United v Portsmouth
Sun-
Arsenal v Bolton
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In Copa Libertadores qualifying last night Club America pulverized Peru's Sporting Cristal 5-0 in the first leg. Salvador Cabanas hit for 3, while Oscar Rojas & Cuauhtemoc Blanco had the other 2 goals for the Eagles.
-There are 5 other sets of qualifying going on in the next two weeks as well, then the group stages launch in mid Feb.
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Looks like Real Madrid has sold Ronaldo to Milan for 7.5 million euros. That is a lot for Ronny. I love that guy, but........
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The Bundesliga resumes this weekend after their "winter" break. Right now it's a 4 horse race between Bremen & Schalke with 36 points each, Bayern at 33 and Stuttgart at 32. Here is a full schedule of games on deck, and here are the current standings.
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FIFA.com talks to excellent striker Miroslav Klose about the future of Germany and his club Werder Bremen.
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Jonah Freedman is back from South America with his World Power Rankings at Sports Illustrated. And Chelsea is off the list for the first time in 3 years!

House Broken Monarch Butterfly News

Chivas coach Preki tells Andrea Canales of LA Soccer News that John O'Brien may NOT be done at the club: “I talked to John briefly this morning. He said he was feeling OK and that he would like to come in and see how things work out. We’re going to give him another chance.”

USA coach Bob Bradley will hold an online press conference at 2pm central time today to preview next weeks USA v Mexico match. See & hear it here. Midfielder Pablo Mastroeni will also be on hand.
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In my opinion, the player who should be at the top of MLS team's wish list is Juan Roman Riquelme. The Argentine midfielder is totally on the outs at his club teal Villareal, and has retired from internationals. One of his reasons for retiring was to spend more time with his sick mother. Living in the USA would put him a lot closer to home than being in Spain. Come on someone. Step up. Get it done this week before the transfer window closes. I bet Peter Wilt would do it.
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Another pro gets a blog! This week Steven Goff of the Washington Post starts Soccer Insider, joining Luis Arroyave, Ives Galarcep, Andrea Canales and Luis Bueno as professional soccer writers with a blog. Now I know for sure that this is a conspiracy, and they are trying to put us amateurs out of business. I wish them all the luck in the world, cuz "Yer nevah gonna git me suckas"!
-One of Goff's first tidbits was the fact that DC United midfielder Brian Carroll will sign a new contract with the team after checking out possibilities in Europe and finding them unsatisfactory.
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Ives Galarcep at the North Jersey Herald on the return of Claudio Reyna to America. The Red Bulls of New York introduced him today. Here is a picture of him wearing some new sorta cool looking Red Bulls gear.
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Don't count the Chicago Fire out of the race for early use of a Designated Player spot. They have a big list.
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With several new MLS managers for this new season Soccer America tries to figure out what they will need to do to make things work, and what they might bring to the job.
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New England have re-signed two back-up players, midfielder Marshall Leonard and keeper Doug Warren, and given midfielder Jeff Larentowitz a raise to the senior roster.
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Dallas has named their former goalkeeper Jeff Cassar as their new goalkeepers coach. Manager Steve Morrow had already retained his previous fellow assistants Oscar Pareja & Marco Ferruzzi.
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Jeff Bradley with a brand new First XI at MLSnet: California Dreaming (Hear all the hoochies screamin'!)
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While the struggle for stadium financing in Salt Lake City drags on and on, and up and down, and over and under, and back and forth, and to and fro, and on and on some more, Brad Rock at the Deseret Morning News decides to ask the bigger financial question: Just how strong is the MLS? They called it "the MLS", I didn't.
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LA coach Frank Yallop & GM Alexi Lalas were on Glenn Davis's radio show in Houston last night. Here is a podcast of that interview for you to download.
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Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America takes a good look at the strengths and weaknesses of Team USA as we get warmed up for next years beginning to World Cup qualifying.
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Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune looks at USA coach Bob Bradley's "interim" title. Plus his regular column of Trophies, Red Cards, and Sidelines.
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Awesome day for Jay DeMerit yesterday. He came off the bench in the 33rd minute and scored the winner with his head 40 minutes later, as Watford won for only the second time this season in the English Premiership. They beat Brad Friedel and Blackburn 2-1! Unfortunately it is probably too late for last place Watford to avoid relegation, unless they go on a biblical run. Sorry Jay. On the other hand the team seems to have that never say die attitude, so at least they have some chance.
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A former Portland Timber player has proven to be quite the scam artist. He ripped some people off big time, and now is going to pay the price after being caught red handed. Idiot. (Thanks to Kevin A for sending me this.)
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English FA Cup 4th Round is this weekend. Here are all the matches. Below are the two biggest games on the docket - both games will only be shown in the USA on home pay-per-view for $16 or closed circuit for $10 per person, check your local haunts for availability:
Sat-
Manchester United v Portsmouth
Sun-
Arsenal v Bolton
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Gregory Sica at Sports Illustrated raves about the young Argentine striker at Athletico Madrid - Sergio Aguero.
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Phil Ball at Soccernet with his La Liga.... Half-Term Report

What Kind Of Perfume Is That You're Wearing News

It's official. Manchester City have released Claudio Reyna from his contract! ADDITION: The New York Red Bulls have called a press conference for noon central time tomorrow to introduce Reyna as their newest player.

Olympique Marseille in France and Porto in Portugal have joined the list of clubs showing strong interest in signing American centerback Oguchi Onyewu. Personally I would like to see him sign just about anywhere other than Chelsea.
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Ives Galarcep assesses Bob Bradley's debut as coach of Team USA last weekend v Denmark. From the North Jersey Herald.
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Andrea Canales at LA Soccer News looks at new Chivas USA coach Preki!
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Jim Dow at RevsNet talks to New England assistant Paul Mariner about the Beckham move. (Thanks to EG for sending this our way.)
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Bernardo Fallas at the Houston Chronicle talks to Dynamo midfielder Ricardo Clark about his game v Denmark with the US, and later in the same article says Houston has offered new contracts to both Brian Ching and Dwayne De Rosario.
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From the Sunday New York Times Business section - Your Money - Where do corporate money, celebrity and Major League Soccer converge with you & me.
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Yanks Abroad says Odd Grenland have followed up their initial low-ball bid for New England forward Taylor Twellman with a better offer. I sure hope it's a LOT better.
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You can add Celtic captain Neil Lennon to the list of old men rumored to be coming to MLS.
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Luis Bueno for the Press-Enterprise talks to USA midfield star Landon Donovan about the Denmark game and the next one with Mexico.
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Luis is working on a feature story with Brad Friedel.
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Bueno also writes/edits the LA Soccer News and today reviews round 1 from the Mexican Primera 2007 Clausura. This is really good reading, with short game reviews followed by sections for good and bad individual performances, top quotes, a power ranking, and more.
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YA talks to American midfielder Michael Bradley of his team Heerenveen's dream to get back into the UEFA Cup again next season.
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Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated examines the current crop of youngsters moving up the steps of US Soccer.
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Andre Canales at Soccer 365 offers her review of the USA U20 team that just qualified for next summers World Youth Championship in Canada.
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FIFA.com has a profile of young Dutch striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar of Ajax. People rave about this guy, but I have never seen him play.
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FIFA also has a Q & A with my favorite striker Hernan Crespo.
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Club America and Sporting Cristal play in Mexico City tomorrow night in the first leg of their home and away Copa Libertadores qualifying match up.
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I have chatted with three long time Chelsea supporters in the past week and all three insist that the English tabloid stories about a big rift between manager Jose Mourinho and the clubs executives are all fiction. But I am not buying it for one second, and neither is Rob Hughes at the International Herald Tribune: Friction undermines Chelsea's ambitions
-Hughes also writes on the social & cultural implications a financially wealthy club like Chelsea can have on their community: Clubs reap the benefits of sharing their wealth
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Don't get a tattoo of your fave team from the wrong guy. (Thanks to BQ for this gem.)

The Divine Bus Driver News

I cannot tell you how exicted it makes me feel to know that 3 Americans were on the field TOGETHER for Fulham in England this past weekend. Carlos Bocanegra, Brian McBride and Clint Dempsey. All in on the action, giving it their all for their team. Wow! Things are really changing in the world of soccer for us Americans!

The USA played a very average to below average first half, then corrected their mistakes and completely dominated the second 45 minutes in beating Denmark 3-1 in coach Bob Bradley's debut. Honestly I don't remember when a Bruce Arena team came back from a deficit to win any game. I am hoping one of you statistical junkies out there can help us out and get that answer. I am not dogging Arena here. I love the guy, and think he did a job as USA manager that every coach after him will have a hard time bettering.
-The du Nord Three Stars Of The Game:
3. Simon Busk Poulsen - the #5 player from Denmark who ran their left wing and made the day hellacious for Chris Albright. He also put in the deadly cross for his teams goal. He should come to MLS!
2. Jonathan Bornstein - went from Nervous Nelly in the opening minutes to powerful game changer over 90 minutes. Did everything I hoped he would do, including finishing off a great move in bagging the game winning goal.
1. Justin Mapp - Was he the best player on the pitch? Probably not, but no one had a greater impact on the game. His audacious spirit split Denmark open from the minute he stepped on the field to start the second half. And then he steals the whole show but winning a ball in his own half, weaving thru 3, 4, 5 Danes, goes all the way to the end line and slides in a powerful cross for Bornstein to whack home and win the game. Awesome!
-Here are some articles to read about the USA v Denmark game:
US Soccer match report (complete with links to photos, quotes, podcast & video interviews).
Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet with a match report and player ratings.
Grahame Jones of the LA Times with his match report.
Andrea Canales of Soccernet with a story on our star of the game, Justin Mapp.
Marc Connolly of the US Players Assoc with 5 Things We Learned, from this game.
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It looks very seriously like Chelsea will sign American & Standard Liege defender Oguchi Onyewu any day now. Fulham had offered 1 million euros for him, while Chelsea make it 3. Its odd seeing Chelsea buy someone for a small amount actually. Maybe they learned their lesson. Lyon are also still in the hunt if the deal does not work, but they do not want to sign Gooch until summer.
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Clint Dempsey, wearing number 23, wasted no time what-so-ever with his Fulham debut and showing English football just who he is and what he plans to do. He came into the scoreless game in the 81st minute, made a couple hard tackles, passed the ball around, then got things going on a series that led to a McBride shot, and hand ball call in the box and Montella scoring on the subsequent PK. Somewhere in the middle he even had a nifty backheel pass that had the crowd oooowing! Sweet! David Hirshey of Deadspin was even on hand from New York to witness the event and talk to Deuce after the game.
-The Fulham website had a few words with him and his coach Chris Coleman after his first game too.
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Remember a couple weeks back when I wrote about DC United signing a Brazilian winger with the giant head named Ruy from Botafogo? Well the deal went bad so it's not gonna happen. I jumped the gun. Next.
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But DC did step up and sign a Brazilian forward instead. Emilio Luciano from Olimpia in Honduras. Steve Goff of the Washington Post with the story.
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In other DCU news, the dates are set for taking on Luciano's now former team Olimpia in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Feb 21 at Olimpia in Tegucigalpa Honduras and March 1 at home in the District at RFK.
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Frank Dell'apa at the Boston Globe says Norwegian team Odd Grenland has offered New England $1 million for forward Taylor Twellman. I really hope it takes a lot more than that to sign Twellman.
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Marc Connolly of the US Players Assoc talks to Salt Lake coach John Ellinger.
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Chris Armas has a signed a new contract to stay in Chicago for another season. He is the team captain, and after returning from another knee injury had a great season in 06. This signing will help stabilize the young team after other team veterans Tony Sanneh & Zach Thornton were not brought back from last year.
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Somewhere along the line this weekend I heard someone say something about the New York Red Bulls getting yet another new look for their shirts for next year.
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And I also heard several MLS teams were trying to lure Leeds left winger Eddie Lewis back to America.
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Dan Loney of American Soccer News with a column on the Beckham invasion. (What else?) Loney told me that the media frenzy in LA felt more like a moon landing than a soccer event.
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The English rumor mill has added old Liverpeople forward Robbie Fowler to the list of players headed to MLS. Let's hope not. On the other hand he did have perhaps the greatest goal celebration of all time: There had been rumors in all the English tabloids that Robbie enjoyed way too much time "out and about" instead of concentrating strictly on his football. The worst rumors said he had grown a large appetite for the marching powder. After scoring a goal, he actually got down on the ground and pretended to "snort" one of the white lines on the pitch!!!!! Brilliant. He was punished by the FA for the move, but what the hell. Brilliant!!!!
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The Toronto Star with the story of Richard Asante, who was born in Ghana, raised in Toronto and now drafted by Toronto FC.
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It's really exciting to know that Toronto has passed the 10,000 mark in season ticket sales! Remarkable.
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A terrible rumor is floating that with 4 MLS team playing in the SuperLiga next summer v Mexican teams that those four will NOT play in the US Open Cup. If this is true then it is a fuckin joke, and we should all let US Soccer know it!
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How many of you readers remember Devin Barclay. He was a rising American star 6 years ago that signed on with Tampa Bay at 18, but burned through 3 more teams in the next 3 seasons. Then his career was over. At 22. Wow. He is now a freshman at Ohio State and is in a feature story about ADD & Ritalin from Sunday's LA Times. Interesting. We wish Devin the best. FYI - this is not a soccer article, its a medical article.
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Another Frank Dell'apa story from the Boston Globe has him talking in-depth to Manfred Schellscheidt, who coached Team USA in the 70's, about new coach Bob Bradley.
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3 more shut outs for the 3 American keepers in England. Let's check in with all our favorite Americans in Europe and see how their weekend matches went:
-DaMarcus Beasley - Manchester City - came on at half time to try and spark his teams awful performance, but they still lost 0-3 at home to Blackburn. Ugliness.
-Gregg Berhalter - went 90 as this team got the second half of the season off to a rotten start losing 0-3 at home to Furth.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - played really hard at d-mid as they drew 1-1 with Tottenham.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - came on as a half time sub and played left back as his team played 76 minutes with 10 men in a losing effort, 3-1 at PSV.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - saw the light of day finally as he came on as a late sub (85th min). Let's hope he gets more and more time on the field. Unfortunately for him his replacement Steve Hunt is playing really good.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - did not play for the first time all season in a 2-0 loss at Aston Villa.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - made his EPL debut in the 81st minute, stole the ball from Robbie Keane, made clever a pass (typical Dempsey though) that lead to a McBride shot which lead to a PK and his teams goal in a 1-1 draw with Tottenham.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - they went on the road to Man City and Brad got another clean sheet. This one 0-3. Excellent.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - started in the goal of course, of a 3-1 win over Sheffield United.
-Tim Howard - Everton - another 90 minutes of goalless soccer for Howard in a 0-2 win at Wigan.
-Eddie Lewis - Leeds - went the whole match on the left wing in a 2-3 loss to West Brom. Rumors have him headed home soon.
-Brian McBride - Fulham - played a great game and took a big shot that was knocked away from goal by a hand. His teammate Montella bagged the PK, but they gave up a late one in a 1-1 draw with Tottenham. He really is playing out of his mind right now.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - started and went the distance as captain of his team in a 3-1 win over Lokeren in their first game since the winter break. Will THIS ONE be his final game in Liege?
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on as a 86th minute sub in a 2-2 tie with Newcastle.
-Josh Wolff - made his German debut in the 60th minute with his team already down 0-3 to Furth. The score did not change. Bad loss.
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Claudio Reyna's German nemesis Jens Nowotny has retired from soccer. He played many times for Germany and was a long time member of Bayer Leverkusen. His current team had been Dinamo Zagreb.
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Haiti, Trinidad & Tobago, Cuba and Guadelupe(?!?!) have qualified for next summers Gold Cup. They join the USA, Mexico and Canada, and 5 teams from Central America still to be determined.
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The Washington City Paper says you can forget about Pele being the star of the NASL - the real star was Johan Cryuff!
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From the New York Times yesterday: Refugees Find Hostility and Hope on Soccer Field. This story will make you happy and mad at the same time. That's good. (Thanks to Jason for sending us this one.)
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Aston Villa made a great deal today in swapping striker Milan Baros to Lyon for forward John Carew. Why do I say Villa got a great deal? Cuz Carew can actually have an impact on the game at the position, whereas Baros cannot.
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Brazilian midfielder Elano of Shaktar Donetsk has had his fill of Ukraine. He wants desperately to move to a bigger team in a bigger league - like, today already. From Soccernet.
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You know, on Saturday after the Liverpeople had ruined Chelsea's day with a 2-0 win, all the Man U fans were ear-to-ear grinning fools. But by noon central time on Sunday they were sour faced too as Arsenal came back to beat them 2-1 in one hell of a weekend for the English Premiership. Bad news for Arsenal in the end though as Robin Van Persie broke the troublesome fifth metatarsal in his foot. He is likely out until March.
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Inter Milan have now won 13 Serie A games in a row, and have a huge 11 point lead over 2nd place Roma. But you know what, I find it all pretty meaningless. Without Juventus, Milan & others at their best, is there a worse "top league" in Europe. Nope! None even close. It's literally a one team league. Booooooooooooooooooring. If they succeed in the Champions League I will be ecstatic, but they got a tough road when they drew against Valencia, who I think are the top dark horse to win it all. We shall see, but so far its been a really anti-climatic for me as an Inter fan.
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Parma fans went wild for the debut by Giuseppe Rossi this weekend. He got the games only goal in a 1-0 win over Torino. Fans are saying it's the Serie A goal of the week too.
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Sid Lowe of the Guardian says David Beckham is not the only foreign midfield star on the outs with his Spanish club - meet Juan Roman Riquelme of Villareal.
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Phil Ball at Soccernet with his weekly LA Liga column featuring Becks and the mad mad mad mad mad Spanish title race: From Galactico to Galaxy
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Simon Kuper of the Financial Times on Jose Mourinho's level of paranoia.
-In two non-soccer stories for the FT, Kuper writes about Miami basketball star Dwayne Wade and the wretched state of poverty in Miami. Yes, Miami. And he writes about what the last days of Fidel Castro in Cuba could mean in Miami. Great stuff.
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New Mexican coach Hugo Sanchez has named an all domestic team to face the USA on Feb 7 in Phoenix. He also did not pick any players from Club America because they have a Copa Libertadores game. So with this squad he can brag if they win, and have an easy excuse if they do not. Does that make him a smart bastard or what?
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Again, thanks to BQ for all the help today.

Now That's More Like It - USA U20's Pound Panama Like They Mean It

The USA U20 team won their World Youth Championship qualifying group with a resounding 5-0 victory over host team Panama. After a fairly dull first half and a 1-0 lead from a nicely finished 8th minute Freddy Adu goal set up brilliantly by Johann Smith, Team USA got serious in the second half and played like a dominate team with 4 more goals. Good way to end the tourney. In style!
Let's run down the lineup one last time shall we:
-Johann Smith started up top on the right in place of Sal Zizzo. Z was nice in the games one and two. JS was awesome in this one. He did not see the ball nearly enough from his teammates, but when he did he just blew past defenders. The first USA goal was all Smith's doing. He dribbled down the right wing, past a coupla Panamaniacs to the end line then laced a hard cross that Josi Alitdore nearly got to only from Freddy Adu to step in behind and poke it home. In the second half he took off toward goal as Nathan Sturgis launched a perfect pass over the defense, Smith stayed on side, then bolted past everyone with his incredible speed, got the ball after one touch and flicked it to the left side of the net for his first of the tournament. Brilliant. He tried hard every time he got the ball, which like I said before, was not enough. They better fix that so they can do some real damage next summer in Canada.
-Robbie Rogers had a decent game, played with more verve and attacked better. His goal was great as he cut inside then outside sending his defender tumbled, then one more cut inside to a right footed blast at the low near post beating the keeper badly.
-Freddy Adu had a game more like he should but still only rating a 6.5 on my scale. While he did have 2 goals, they were both set up by other people, and he did not do a lot to set up his teammates with direct goal scoring chances. I really wish Rongen would play him on the wing.
-Josi Altidore was fairly quiet all game, worked hard, but added little beyond occupying defenders and keeping them from double team situations.
-Danny Szetela had three good games in a row. If he hadn't had that suspect first 30-40 minutes in game 1 it would have been a perfect tournament. And he had a great long pass for the goal by Jonathan Villenueva.
-Anthony Beltran, you can't say enough about a guy who was cut and brought back when another player fell out. He started two games at two different positions and played long minutes in the other. This time he was at d-mid and backed up Szetela nicely. No flash, no glory, just simple and solid.
-Quavas Kirk & Tim Ward as the outside backs gave it there best. Ward is a better defender, Kirk is better going forward. But I think Ward is the better passer of the two, and can get off a nice shot. Both were subbed out for less offense minded players in the second half.
-Jules Valentin & Nathan Sturgis made a solid tandem again. Valentin was at his best with a late hard foul that got him a yellow card. Why was this a good thing? Cuz his teammates were getting hacked pretty hard by the frustrated Panama and Jules said "ENOUGH!" Quality move man. Sturgis was solid too and again he placed a long pass spot on the money to Johan Smith who blew past defenders to score.
-Chris Seitz - had to do a little more than in the other games and seemed to actually struggled forming his defensive walls for free kicks. This should get better with experience, but he may get burned by it before he really learns.
-subs:
-Jonathan Villanueva took a long pass over the top from Szetela and got a goal for himself late.
-Ofori Sarkodie & Bryan Arguez did little to hurt their cause for the long run, but had no tough job to do either except hold a late lead.

USA U20's 0-0 Guatemala - Friday Night

A very frustrating 0-0 draw v Guatemala for the USA U20 team at the World Youth Championship qualifying tournament in Panama on Friday night. They play their final game on Sunday at 6pm central v the host country, and will probably need a draw game to make it through. (Obviously a win would do the trick too.)
The USA played with a lot less power and positivity in this match than they did in the 4-1 win on Wednesday v Haiti. I don't think the two friendly victories over Guatemala last fall helped in this cause today at all. As a matter of fact if you combine those two wins and the easy Haiti win, I think you could say this team was very overconfident. It's not that they were outplayed, just out-desired. If it was a boxing score, Guate would have won the first half by a touch, and the US would have won the second half straight up, giving the USA the victory by split decision. But it's still 0-0 on the big board, and that's all that counts.
Here is a look at the team"
-Again goalkeeper Chris Seitz was barely tested, and he was good when he needed to be.
-Quavas Kirk was replaced at right back by Tony Beltran, giving the team a lot less forward push from that spot, with maybe a tad better defense, but I would say they lost that one.
-The two center back Sturgis and Valentin were solid again, but made a few dicey moves and were not as helpful moving the ball upfield.
-Tim Ward on the left flank was decent again and had one of the better shots on goal. Unfortunately he got hurt late on a lousy tackle that went unpunished. His replacement Amechi Igwe pushed way up the field late with the US mainly going 3 in the back. He did his best but added little to the offense.
-Holding midfielder Danny Szetela had a better overall game from start to finish. Good for him. Solid, but not exceptional.
-His partner Anthony Wallace was all over the field trying desperately to help out to no avail. He was not too effective but had a couple nice defensive saves.
-The third guy in the middle was Freddy Adu, the team captain, and he was borderline awful. He saved himself from full disgrace with a couple of decent passes and free kicks late. Other than that he contributed nothing. As an example, he found himself about 15 yards from goal with the ball at his feet and some space, but all he managed was a trickling right footed shot directly at the keeper. He is supposed to be special! Heads and tails above the rest! But it's looking to be just not so. Depressing to watch really.
-The left winger Robbie Rogers was ok at best. He could not wriggle free to put in any good crossing attempts. He seemed to always want to take on the defense by himself which led to weak shots or putting teammates in positions they could do little with his service.
-Center forward Andre Akpan did not get the service like he did v Haiti. I can't find too much fault with his game. He was taken off late for Preston Zimmerman who had no impact.
-Right winger Sal Zizzo was pretty much invisible. He did try hard, but got almost nothing going. He was replaced by Josi Altidore who immediately made his professional experience known on the game. He played hard, and is better at creating chances for himself, but like Akpan got little help.
All in all, a poor performance. The USA team now sits with 4 points, leading the group on goal differential, and has to play the host team in the last game. The USA should be favored in that game and should win, but it is a road game so anything is possible. Let's hope for the best. Panama also has 4 points after a 3-2 win over Haiti. Guatemala has 2 points and can advance with a big win over Haiti. Haiti has been elmindated with their 0 points after 2 games. The two best teams advance
Games Sunday January 21 on GolTV:
Haiti v Guatemala - 4pm central time
Panama v USA - 6pm central time

Primed Chimping News

USA U20 v Guatemala today at 5:30pm central time in World Youth Championship qualifying from Panama. The third and final match v Panama will be on Sunday at 5pm central. See em both live on GolTV.
-US Soccer has podcasts of a scouting report on Guatemala - and - an interview with USA forward Andre Akpan who bagged a brace v Haiti the other night in the 4-1 win.
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Don't forget that the USA senior side have their 07 debut this weekend too. 4pm central time tomorrow (Saturday) v Denmark from the Home Depot Center in LA. See it live on ESPN2. Join me at the Sweetwater in St Paul for viewing (see details on the Sweetwater from a day or two ago).
-Rob Stone, Eric Wynalda, Bruce Arena and Allen Hopkins will call the game (and the Mexico match on Feb 7).
-Ives Galarcep - and - Andrea Canales - and - Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet with previews.
-US Soccer has a podcast of an interview with Jonathan Bornstein.
-US Soccer also has a special video presentation from the magnificent Jimmy Conrad.
-Grahame Jones of the LA Times with a look at the team heading into Saturdays first game.
-Keep reading the US Soccer weblog for the Team USA January training camp.
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Preki has been given the reigns at Chivas USA. What the hell took them so long? I would have handed over the coaches jacket to him ten minutes after Bob Bradley left. Great move.
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According to the great blog MLS Underground, the MLS All Star game opponent next summer will be Celtic. The game will be played in Denver at the Rapids new home stadium, The Big Dick.
-MLSU also had a note early this week that Colorado is chasing American striker Conor Casey who is set to leave Mainz in Germany and just turned down an offer from RJK in Holland.
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Even Conan O'Brien has jumped on the Beckham band wagon with a satirical view of the deal! Excellent! Check it out on You Tube. (Thanks Joey.)
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UEFA.com calls the Beckham deal "one of the most extraordinary transfers ever."
-On another Beckham note, I really think the reason Real Madrid management and coaches have been ripping the player so hard is that they are embarrassed that he dared leave their team for such an unknown and backwater team as the LA Galaxy. Think about it. Why else would they act so harshly. It's not that they really wanted to keep him on their team, but they have massive ego's and never expected he would have the guts to walk away from them.
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DC United has signed Brazilian forward Luciano Emilio from Honduras club Olimpia. He was their top scorer the past couple of seasons. And it just so happens that DCU plays Olimpia in the CONCACAF Champions Cup in a few weeks.
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On the MLS Designated Player Rumor Mill:
-Edgar Davids to FC Dallas - Dallas coach Steve Morrow has been quoted a couple times now saying he wants Davids and that the two parties have talked.
-Dwight Yorke to Toronto - He is old and not what he was even 5 years ago, but this would be a good move.
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Is there some new news streaming out of San Jose? Seems that Lew Wolff who is trying to bring the Earthquakes back to life has talked to San Jose State University about building a new stadium on campus to replace the E-quakes old home, Spartan Stadium. What a wild turn of events that would be, seeing as the inadequate facility is what drove the team to move to Houston last year. Hopefully we will get more on this soon.
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Celtic has supposedly made a second offer to New England for midfielder Shalrie Joseph but were turned down again. Celtic needs to drop the chump change and make a real offer.
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A couple of MLS players have changed teams in the past week:
-I think I reported last week, but Greg Vanney was sent from Dallas to Colorado. (Or maybe I meant to write that last week and a little illness got in the way.)
-Young David Arvizu finally got his wish to return to his home in Southern California as New York shipped him to Chivas USA. Why the hell didn't this happen last year at this time?
-And I was very surprised to hear Chicago sent Costa Rican striker Andy Herron to Columbus. Good for Sigi Schmid's Crew.
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MLS teams have added further fodder to their preseason rosters in the "supplemental draft" of college players who were not picked last week in the Superdraft. Here is that list.
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Brian McBride will NOT be heading back to MLS anytime soon, seeing as he has signed a 1 year extension to his deal at Fulham in England. Both Columbus and Chicago wanted to bring him home, but I think he has made a great choice to stay at the club where he has had his greatest success as a pro, over the last 3 years. Too bad he didn't get a shot at England 10 years ago, and been a seriously experienced striker in this prime 5 or 6 years back. Oh well. Great for him, and probably for his pocketbook too.
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Fulham coach Chris Coleman makes more comments on new signing Clint Dempsey (from the Fulham home page): Clint Dempsey has to go back to America to sign a few more documents which will take a few days. He hasn’t played for over a month so when he gets back we need to get him match fit as quickly as possible.
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The latest Oguchi Onyewu news: The move to Fulham is dead at this point. He is still talking to two clubs in Italy - Milan & Lazio. And Lyon appears to have joined the chase. Another wild rumor floating around is that Chelsea were interested in Gooch, but the money was not given to coach Jose Mourinho to make the deal, and that is one of the reasons he is so upset with management and ownership right now.
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I got a sad note from "Our Donovan" yesterday saying that former USA goalkeeper David Vanole has died unexpectedly at age 43. He helped the USA qualify for the 1990 World Cup, but was beat out by Tony Meola for the starting job at the WC in Italy. Donovan sent this note along: The qualification of the USA for the 1990 World Cup was the start of a lot of good things that have continued for the USMNT on through to today. I was in St. Louis in October, 1989, watching the USA play Costa Rica in a WCQ where we barley salvaged a tie (1-1). At the very end of the match Costa Rica was given a penalty kick. Vanole saved it, one of those great moments! The next match was in T&T and we won 1-0 on an odd goal that we have all seen many, many times. But, I believe, the save by Vanole was just as significant to our qualifing for WC '90.
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Gabriel Ferrari an 18 year old from the New York Red Bulls youth system has signed a deal with Sampdoria in Italy's Serie A. He is just waiting for the paper work from US Soccer to clear. Unlike another American, who shall remain nameless, who vowed he wants to play for Italy, not the USA, the famously named Ferrari has told Yanks Abroad that he emphatically wants to wear the USA red, white and blue: "I'm born American, grew up in the US and that is the country I would like to play for if I get the chance." And as reader Luke put it in an email to me: "Guiseppe Rossi can kiss my ass." Indeed!
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You know, as much as the Seattle Sounders players are total mooks and I as a Minnesota Thunder fan love to hammer them verbally every chance I get, I must admit that this scheme they have of wearing the worst sweaters they can find when they hit the town is pretty brilliant and shows a level of intelligence and humor I never dreamt was possible from them. So a reluctantly say "hats off to ya boys". Thanks to Elko for dropping his jewel in my lap.
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Milan have signed up long-haired wild-man goal keeper Marco Storari from Messina. He was the only good thing about Messina and I was hoping he might get a shot with a bigger team. Now we shall see if he is for real. Great for him. Will he still wear the pink shirts at Milan?
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This article says doctors in Italy are usual calcio/football to help patients with depression and other more serious mental illness. And all this time I figured that calcio was the main cause of any mental illness in Italy. Who knows, maybe it goes both ways. Thanks to JdB for sending us this.
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Anderlecht midfielder Mbark Boussoufa was named Belgium's Player Of The Year for 06.
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Big Euro matches this weekend:
Saturday-
Liverpeople v Chelsea
PSV v Heerenveen
Sunday-
Inter v Fiorentina
Arsenal v Manchester United
Lazio v Milan
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Mexican teams Necaxa & America were the InterLiga winners and will advance to the Copa Libertadores which starts next week. Necaxa goes directly into group play, while America must play off against a side from Peru to get into the groups.
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Readers of UEFA.com has voted for their Team Of The Year for 2006.
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Feyenoord of Holland have been kicked out of the UEFA Cup due to their racist and rowdy crowds. I like this move. Boo Feyenoord.
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My local club the Minnesota Thunder are sponsoring the screenings of the Zidane movie coming up in early February here at the Walker Art Center. Be there.
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Lastly, I wanna say thanks to BQ for helping with several items in this update. And to all of the rest of you who keep sending nice emails wishing me good health. Thank you very much.