Foods Of The Ottoman Empire News

Chicago has finally handed over the reigns of their team to long time loyal assistant coach Denis Hamlet. It's about frickin time they gave him a shot. He has worked under every other coach in the teams history. Good luck amigo.

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Steve Goff of the Washington Post talks to New England forward Taylor Twellman about the league & his team turning down a supposed improved offer of around $2.5 million for him by Preston in England. Needless to say, Twellman is pissed off. From the Soccer Insider blog.

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Grinsi gets a job! - Bayern Munich has hired Juergen Klinsmann to be their next coach. Current boss Ottmar Hitzfeld is set to retire at the end of this season, and Klinsi will take over this summer.

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There is a poll on the front of the LA Times Sports section call "Survivor". It asks reader: "If you had to vote for one team to leave town and never return, which team would it be?" And guess who was elimidated in the very first round? Yes it was, Chivas USA. Wow, and sad. On the other hand, you know who is leading the voting in the second round? The Lakers. Double Wow! Maybe it's OK to be eliminated early.

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Here is something I find really disappointing - Ives Galarcep leaves the North Jersey Herald News and they not only don't hire anyone to replace him, but they dump their entire Soccer section. Booooooooooooooooooooooooo!


I keep hearing that Kenny Cooper wants OUT of Dallas. Is this true? (And now I see that Glenn Davis has a mention of this on his blog as well.) Cooper has been in England training with his old club Manchester United.
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Cleetus has gone Greek! Clint Mathis has departed the LA Galaxy without even unpacking his bags and signed with Greek club Ergotolis (who I have frankly never even heard of). Good luck you old beer swillin' maniac. We wish you the best.
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Another young American player has flown the MLS coop - Clarence Goodson, who was recently claimed by San Jose in the their expansion draft, has decided to go to northern Europe and has signed with Norwegian 2nd division team Start.
-Goodson shares a few words with the USA official team blog on his departure.
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Stories from Chicago on the hiring of Denis Hamlett:
Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Arroyave also on his Red Card blog with some thoughts on the Hamlett hiring, and then some direct quotes from Hamlett himself & Chicago GM John Guppy.
Nick Firchau of the Chicago Sun Times & Southtown Star.
Chicago Daily Herald.
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The San Jose Mercury News on the return of goalkeeper Joe Cannon to the Earthquakes.
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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch gives us a Columbus Crew story for the second day in a row. That may be a Crew off-season record. Today we learn about the teams search for new players.
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Two Chivas USA players had surgery this week - Jonathan Bornstein on his left ankle, and Maykel Galindo on a hernia.
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Chivas also gave their coach Preki a contract extension. No details are known. But this much is known - Preki is a card carrying member of the AARP, and was while still playing for Kansas City.
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James Edward of the Deseret Morning News says Salt Lake has all but finalized deals for two new players including American defender Ian Joy from German club St Pauli. The other is the rumored Argentine midfielder Matias Cordoba from Tigre.
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Bill Witz of the Daily Breeze tells us what the sale of Joe Cannon by LA to San Jose really means.
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Steve Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog talks to forward Alecko Eskandarian about the possibility of being sold by Salt Lake to Chivas USA.
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Goff also speculates that DC United is nearly finished with a deal to bring in veteran centerback Gonzalo Martinez of Juan Carlos Osorio's old club Millonarios in Colombia. From the Washington Post.
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New York has signed goalkeeper Jon Conway to a new contract.
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And Houston has re-signed right winger Brian Mullan.
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American Soccer Daily is rumoring that former Manchester City midfielder Kiki Musampa may be MLS bound.
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Greg Lalas with his column for Goal.com: The 3-5-2
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Big Soccer poster Alan puts up a picture of the brand new New England Revolution shirt from this year, along with an image from last year for comparison. Other than a slight change in the arrangement of the main colors, the only real difference is that they added a collar.
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Speaking of new shirt looks - Oz City snagged this picture of an unbranded Kansas City Wizards shirt. Slightly new shade of blue for them. And gold trim? That IS new.
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The Washington Business Journal with some surprising news on developments for a potential stadium in the District of Columbia for DC United. It's good news for a change.
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The Houston Business Journal with the latest updates on a Dynamo stadium too.
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Word from Portland is that the Timbers are finally going to replace their nasty old fake turf. No it won't be grass, but at least it will be brand new Field Turf. The players from every team in the league will be happy about that news.
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The USL First Division has announced their TV schedule on Fox Soccer Channel for the 2008 season. You all get to see my Minnesota Thunder 3 times. Yee Haw. I'm sure your crappy team is on there some time too.
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Canadian striker O'Brian White of Connecticut was named the 2007 winner of the Hermann Trophy, aka the top college player.
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Interliga
Semifinals Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jan 12 - LA Home Depot Center
San Luis v Atlas
America v Cruz Azul
-The two winners of these games will get spots in la Copa Libertadores.
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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America tries to make sense of how a coin flip could determine one of the Copa Libertadores participants from Mexico. Via Sports Illustrated.
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Team USA January Camp in Carson CA

Official blog.
-The blog has a Q & A with Chicago forward Chris Rolfe.
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The Philadelphia Daily News has an article on local player Jeremiah White who is in the current USA camp.
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USA U23 January camp in Bradenton FL

Their official team blog.
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Soccernet has a very good video interview with American midfielder Freddy Adu of Benfica. He talks plenty about MLS etc. It might take a while to load this clip. But I think it's worth it.
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Greg Seltzer at American Soccer Daily talks to American forward Johann Smith who is back to full health and ready to try and earn a spot on the first team at Bolton.
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This is the kind of crap that makes CONCACAF still a 2nd rate world football federation - some stadiums are not up to standard for the first round of World Cup Qualifying, so those series will become one leg instead of two. Are you kidding me? You make them find stadiums to play the matches, in other countries if you have to, or you throw them out. And don't tell me that this situation hasn't been known about for ages. From the AP via Sports Illustrated.
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Big Euro Matches This Weekend:
-Sat Jan 12
Chelsea v 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 v PSV - the two top dogs battle it out in Holland. #2 v #1.
Caen v Nancy Lorraine - the two big surprise teams this season, and they sit at #4 & #2
-Sun Jan 13
Ajax v 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 v 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. This is one I wish I could see in person!
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Honduran midfielder Wilson Palacios has followed his old boss Steve Bruce from Birmingham to Wigan.
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The Guardian gives us a look at 6 of greatest football grounds in Britain. Thanks to Johnsoon for this one.
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The Guardian also looks at some of the asinine money that is wasted in the transfer market.
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So who will be guarding the net for Deportivo La Coruna this weekend? The top two keepers got into a brawl at training yesterday and both have been suspended by the club. They rest of the team takes on Villareal.
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Chelsea have bought French striker Nicolas Anelka from Bolton.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the Newcastle coaching situation.
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Will the human-bobble-head Harry Redknapp bail on Portsmouth to take over Newcastle? Probably.
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Reuters has a story on Brazilian forward Adriano. His new coach at Sao Paulo says he is raring to go! Really? I kinda doubt it, but I hope so.
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I have seen a few mentions on message boards about a new mega-deal between Milan & Adidas (and when I say mega I mean MEGA), but I cannot seem to dig up any official news. Stay tuned.