Coffee Is Thought To Be An Upper News

Steven Goff is reporting that "Kansas City's Eddie Johnson has left U.S. national team camp in L.A. and is in serious negotiations with English club Fulham". From the Soccer Insider. So we would have 5 Americans on one team in England, and that team is in serious danger of being relegated. Doesn't sound so hot to me. FYI - Twellman has scored 91 goals in 156 MLS games.

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After only a few months and even fewer appearances Benny Feilhaber looks to be leaving Derby County. The destination is rumored to be Maccabi Tel Aviv. Oof. By the way, this is the team of du Nord fave Dedi Ben Dayan who played in Colorado.

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And to add to that rumor is another rumor saying Jonathan Bornstein of Chivas USA is headed to that same Israeli club on trial. Are you kidding me? Not to mention the fact that Jonny B just had ankle surgery and is out of action.

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COMIN' UP FAST: USA v Sweden - Sat Jan 19 - 7:30pm central on Fox Soccer Channel. I will most likely be out and about in the Twin Cities to watch this one, and I will post my location some time this week (once I take a couple minutes to figure it out.)


Here is the ballot from the National Soccer Hall of Fame for potential inductees in 2008. Who you gonna vote for?
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Buzz Carrick of the 3rd Degree talked to Dallas coach Steve Morrow about the rumor that forward Kenny Cooper wants out, but Morrow says that is a false rumor.
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News from Dallas also tells us that the team has re-signed midfielder Arturo Alvarez. He had been looking at some overseas chances. Excellent. Now let's see if he can take last years break out and make it real.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet with more on the denied transfer of Taylor Twellman to Preston. I think its horrible that the league and his team turned this offer down. On the other hand $2.5 million is not nearly enough. They are lowballing.
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Emlyn Lewis at Soccer New England gives his opinion on the Twellman non-transfer story.
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Embele Awipi of the Salinas Californian with an article on San Jose's re-building of team and stadium.
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Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times on his Korner Pocket blog has a Q & A with Chivas USA defender Lawson Vaughn.
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Cardenas also had a Q & A last week with Chivas midfielder Sacha Kljestan that I missed. Thanks for this stuff Jaime.
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Nick Firchau at the Chicago Sun Times talks to Fire pres John Guppy about the hiring of new coach Denis Hamlett.
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Davy Arnaud of Kansas City will not be able to start running for another month yet after having surgery to fix a microfracture. Those things keep basketball players out of the game for a year! Let's hope he gets healed real quick like.
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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch on the Merry-Go-Round that is the story of Guillermo Barros Schelotto and his contract with the Crew. Is he staying? Or going? It seems to change as often as I change underwear, about once a week.
-Mitchell also reports that Celtic's Polish striker Maciej Zurawski who had been linked to the LA Galaxy may now be linked to Columbus.
-And the Crew will hold their preseason training in Bradenton FL, then California, England & Louisiana.
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Big Apple Soccer says that Colombian newspaper El Pais is reporting that New York is signing Atletico Cordoba forward Luis Carlos Cabezas.
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For their preseason the New York Red Bulls will travel to LA, Salzburg Austria (the Red Bull mothership) & finish off at the Carolina Challenge Cup in Charleston SC.
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The Offside Rules has a Q & A with Chris Rolfe. It is not your usual soccer X's & O's. Or kisses and hugs for that matter.
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Former New England midfielder Andy Dorman made his debut for St Mirren in Scotland this weekend, coming on as a late sub in his teams 3-0 win over Dumbarton in the 4th Round of the Scottish Cup.
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Richard Snowden at Soccer365 says MLS needs to get teams into Copa Libertadores. I could not agree more. But first we need to figure out a level of importance for all the other tournaments suddenly piling up around us. US Open Cup, CONCACAF Champions Cup, SuperLiga & next we will get the CONCACAF Champions League. Maybe the simple answer is that we scrap the league and go all tournaments? That way critics can't say that too many games don't have enough meaning!
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TV Sports Daily wonders about the increase in foreign player allotments for MLS teams. Good or bad? (I think one of the things that hurts the NHL's popularity so much is all the foreign players from northern and eastern Europe.)
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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America tells us about the owners of the new San Jose Earthquakes. Via Sports Illustrated.
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The Houston Chronicle with the latest on Dynamo stadium talk.
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The St Louis Dispatch with a really good article about the potential MLS in St Louis owner Jeff Cooper. But this guy does not have the $$$ to make it happen.
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MLS Combine
Reports from the guys with the knowledge:
-Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree with his recaps - Day One and Day Two.
-Jen Chang at Soccernet gives us his thoughts on Day 1 and Day 2 of the combine.
-Ives Galarcep at Soccer By Ives on Day One parts 1 and 2 and Day Two parts 1 and 2.
-And Ives looks at who might want to grab the first pick from San Jose.
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One of the top college players the past few years, Joe LaPira of Notre Dame, is not at the combine and is said to be searching for a club in Europe.
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Galarcep spotted Mike Jeffries & Frank Klopas at the combine with new Chicago coach Denis Hamlett. They were supposedly head coach candidates along with Hamlett, so could they be new assistants instead? Hamlett was later spotted with Peter Nowak & Lubos Kubik. What was Kubik doing there?
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Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com with his take on the upcoming MLS Superdraft.
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The Minnesota Thunder announced their 15 home game schedule today. Make your travel plans now to come see me and my gang.
-Sunday, May 4, 5:05 p.m., Rochester Rhinos, James Griffin Stadium
-Saturday, May 10, 7:05 p.m., Montreal Impact, James Griffin Stadium
-Saturday, May 24, 7:05 p.m., Miami FC, National Sports Center
-Saturday, May 31, 7:05 p.m., Vancouver Whitecaps, James Griffin Stadium
-Saturday, June 14, 7:35 p.m., Atlanta Silverbacks, National Sports Center
-Friday, July 11, 7:05 p.m., Carolina Railhawks, James Griffin Stadium
-Sunday, July 20, 5:05 p.m., Rochester Rhinos, James Griffin Stadium
-Thursday, July 24, 7:05 p.m., Seattle Sounders, James Griffin Stadium
-Sunday, July 27, 5:05 p.m., Puerto Rico Islanders, James Griffin Stadium
-Saturday, August 2, 7:05 p.m., Portland Timbers, James Griffin Stadium
-Thursday, August 7, 7:05 p.m., Charleston Battery, James Griffin Stadium
-Sunday, August 10, 5:05 p.m., Seattle Sounders, James Griffin Stadium
-Friday, August 22, 7:05 p.m., Carolina Railhawks, James Griffin Stadium
-Saturday, September 13, 7:05 p.m., Charleston Battery, James Griffin Stadium
-Saturday, September 20, 7:05 p.m., Montreal Impact, James Griffin Stadium
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USA Training Camp in Carson CA
-Official team blog.
-Training photos from Friday.
-One on one video interview with New England defender Michael Parkhurst. (Video player is over in the top right corner of the linked page.)
-The Daily Pilot of Newport Beach CA with an article on their local player Zach Wells who is at the USA Training camp.
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Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports says that US Soccer missing out on hiring Juergen Klinsmann was a bad thing.
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USA U23 aka Olympic Team Training Camp - in Bradenton FL
-U23 official blog.
-Julian Valentin has left the U23 camp after re-opening one his is facial wounds that he suffered a month ago when he got kicked in the face. At that time he needed a lot of stitches to seal him up.
-Goalkeeper Dominic Cervi has been asked to join the U23 camp after impressing everyone on the first 2 days of the MLS combine. He is from Tulsa. I think it's great that a camp like this can be so flexible.
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Interliga
Semifinal Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jan 12
San Luis 0-3 Atlas - goals by Bruno Marioni y Jorge Achucarro(2).
America 3-3 Cruz Azul - Amer win 5-3 on PK's. - Amer goals by Salvador Cabanas(2, one on PK) & Rodrigo Lopez. Cruz goals by Cesar Villaluz, Jaime Lozano(PK) & Gerardo Lugo.
-The two winners are now qualified for la Copa Libertadores.
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Ivan Orozco of the LA Daily News with a match report.
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise chimes in with his match report.
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The Mexican 2008 Clausura kicks off on Friday Jan 18. Yes, already.
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Monterrey has pulled off a coup and hired former Mexican national team coach Ricardo La Volpe to run their club. Woooohoooo. He has that incredible Latino men's fashion gift for a graying mullet, jeans, midchest unbuttoned shirt, sport coat and cigarettes (sorry, but he just threw his jacket to the ground in disgust in this picture). Now that is sexy. The only thing that makes this story better is that the coach Monterrey just fired is named Isaac Mizrahi. Too bad it wasn't this guy.
-Remember La Volpe is the man who said his grandmother could play for the USA. Damn, she must be good.
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Americans in Europe - how'd their recent matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on in the 79th minute of another disappointing match, a scoreless home draw with Leixos.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - started and distracted the keeper enough to allow a free kick to go directly into the goal, but after only 14 minutes he had to come out with big gash under his left eye from an elbow, the team went on to give up yet another lead and lose 2-1 to West Ham.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - started, went the 90, and scored his teams 1st goal in a 2-2 road draw at Utrecht.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - came on as a sub in the 73rd minute but they lost again, 3-1 at Aston Villa.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played all 90 minutes of yet another loss, this one 2-1 at West Ham.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played all 90 minutes of a 1-0 loss at Preston.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - did not dress for his teams 0-1 home loss to Wigan. He appears to be heading out the door at any moment as well.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - in goal as always and winning 1-2 at Bolton.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went all 90 they lost again, 3-1 at Aston Villa.
-Tim Howard - Everton - went the whole match, and again kept the net empty as they beat Manchester City 1-0 at home.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - did not leave the bench for his teams 0-1 home loss to Wigan.
-Clint Mathis - Ergotolis - I am fairly sure he is not even in Greece yet, but his new team got only their 2nd win of the season, 1-0 over Iraklis. They are in last place.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - started and played the whole match, but it looked bad early on as he gave up a silly foul that was converted for a goal on a nice free kick, in the end though they won 2-1 over Fulham and that’s all that really matters.
-Danny Szetela - Racing Santander - was on the bench but did not play in a 0-2 win at Osasuna.
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Copa Del Rey - Round of 16
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Wed Jan 16
Barcelona v Sevilla (1-1)
Villareal v Recreativo Huelva (0-1)
Levante v Getafe (0-3)
Espnayol v Athletic Bilbao (1-1)
Racing Santander v Zaragoza (1-1)
Valencia v Betis (2-1)
Real Madrid v Mallorca (1-2)
Valladolid v Atletico Madrid (0-0)
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English League/Carling Cup - Semifinals
2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Wed Jan 16
Everton v Chelsea (1-2)
Tottenham v Arsenal (1-1)
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English FA Cup - 3rd Round
12 matches that ended in tie scores last round will be replayed on Tue & Wed this week. Here are all the games.
-Several Americans are in action:
-Tue Jan 15
Bristol Rovers v Fulham
Sheffield Wednesday v Derby
Reading v Tottenham
-Wed Jan 16
Man City v West Ham
-The 4th round will be played Jan 25, 26 & 27.
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Big Euro Matches Last Weekend:
Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham - one of the London derby's and it has more meaning than ever these days as Chelsea tries to stay with the leaders, and Spurs try to regain some real footing.
Feyenoord 0-1 PSV - the two top dogs battle it out in Holland. #2 v #1.
Caen 0-0 Nancy Lorraine - the two big surprise teams this season, and they sit at #4 & #2
Ajax 6-1 AZ Alkmaar - the third place team in the Eredivisie tries to keep pace, while the surprise team of the past 2 seasons tries to get it going again.
Olympiakos 1-1 Panathinaikos - the biggy of the weekend, cuz not only are the bitter rivals, but they sit at #1 & #2 in the table, with only 1 point between them. But the tie game allowed AEK to leap frog them into the top spot.
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Greg Lalas at Goal.com got to watch his big Greek derby. At Roggie's in Boston.
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African Cup of Nations
-The group stage begins on Sunday in Ghana.
-The Accra Daily Mail in Ghana gives us their list of the players to watch. Here is Group A.
-Didier Drogba played for Cote d'Ivoire in a warmup v Kuwait and scored a goal. Is he fully healed?
-The Telegraph of England looks at the team from Sudan - a country that is nearly destroyed due to war, yet made it through qualifying.
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Al Bangura of Watford who was being threatened with deportation back to his native Sierra Leone has been let off the hook, and given a work permit. Good.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with the MetroStars all time greatest player, German legend Lothar Matthaus.
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Real Zaragoza has fired their coach. Unless you are a die hard you have never heard of him, and they replaced him with a former player that only the die hards will know of. So why am I writing this? Cuz they could be good.
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Several from the Guardian:
-Sid Lowe tells us that Valencia aren't the biggest mess in Spain. That honor goes to Levante who only share a city with Valencia.
-The debut of The Duck in Milan.
-Raphael Honigstein ponders the Klinsmann to Bayern hiring.
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Tim Vickery at the BBC gives his raves to man-child Alexandre Pato of Milan.
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Did ya see the newest color of Nike boots this weekend? I guess I would call them Orange-Copper Sunburst. They were worn by both you Nike endorsing stars: Cristiano Ronaldo & Pato. I would expect that we will see some American's in these new shoes v Sweden on Saturday.
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Football Italia with their list of winners and losers from Week 18 in Serie A.
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Inter has signed midfielder Nuno Maniche from Atletico Madrid.
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Milan finally broke their ignominious streak of not having won a home game yet this season. They were 0 for 7, and had scored only 3 home goals. But yesterday they beat Napoli 5-2 to crush all of that. On top of it all Ronaldo got his first start of the season and scored twice. Some kid played for them too.
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The Insider at Soccernet tells us what Chelsea's signing of forward Nicolas Anelka means for the long run.
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The Observer with an article on some Arab businessmen from Dubai who just may swoop in and but Liverpool from Hicks & Gillet.
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And David James, the Portsmouth keeper, at the Observer writes about the almost departure of his manager Harry Redknapp.