It's Automatic Sleepy Time News

From the Fulham FC website, as part of a Q & A with American Brian McBride: "Q: Which player likes to try the most tricks in training? Do they work? A: Clint (Dempsey). I’d say they’re 75% effective!"

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Steven Goff of the Washington Post: "He's [Christian Gomez] definitely not coming back to D.C. United."


MLS News

Greg Seltzer of American Soccer Daily talks to new Salt Lake defender Ian Joy, formerly of St Pauli (one of du Nord's favorite clubs).
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Columbus has officially sold defender Marcos Gonzalez to Chilean powerhouse Universidad Catolica.
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And Shawn Mitchell on his Covering The Crew blog has a quote from Columbus coach Sigi Schmid who is meeting this team owners to "get the OK to really push ahead for a DP.”
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A players is going the other direction from Chile to MLS as well. American defender Chase Hilgenbrinck has officially signed with Colorado. He was playing for Nublense.
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John Haydon of the Washington Times on the official re-signing of Jaime Moreno at DC United.
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LA Daily News with a short article and quotes on the return of Carlos Pescado Ruiz to the LA Galaxy.
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Kyle McCarthy at MLSnet with an article on a private tryout session New England held with 365 prospects the other night.
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Fox Soccer Channel's column Side Kicks takes on the polarizing topic of fans love/hate concerning Landon Donovan. And several other subjects.
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It looks as though the LA Galaxy did not learn their lesson last season and have planned a trip to Asia this spring for matches during preseason. Over scheduling killed them last year, and this year looks to be the same. So far we have Mar 5 in Shanghai v East Asia a 2nd division Chinese team (WTF?), and Seoul FC on Mar 1 in South Korea. There is talk of a second game in China as well.
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Here is a list of all the players selected by MLS teams in yesterdays Supplemental draft (a second chance to bring in players that were not taken in last weeks Superdraft).
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MLS team preseason start dates:
-Jan 26
New York
Salt Lake
-Jan 28
Columbus
Colorado
DC
Kansas City
-Jan 30
New England
-Feb 1
Toronto
Houston
-Feb 4
Chivas USA
Dallas
Los Angeles
San Jose
-Feb 6
Chicago
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I got an awful lot of emails from readers banging me over the head for dissing on Youri Djorkaeff's first season in New York. So I want to acknowledge all those fans, and say, Ok maybe there was ONE French guy that had a decent season in MLS. But that's as far as I am willing to go. Unless their is cash involved.
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The Telegraph newspaper of Southwestern Illinois with an article on potential St Louis MLS owner Jeff Cooper and the effort he is putting in to try and secure a team.
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The Kansas City Wizards have announced their new not so awe inspiring team slogan: "The World’s Game ... Kansas City’s Team". But itt sure beats the hell out of that thing they did with the Zard Meister several years back though. That was downright creepy.
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MLS Rumor City

Allen Hopkins at Soccernet with all the latest dirt. Schelotto, Superdraft & more.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post has loads of updates on DCU potential signings, Jose Carvallo, Marcelo Gallardo & Gonzalo Peralta, on his Soccer Insider blog.
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It's looking like Houston lost another forward as the word from Austria says Nate Jaqua has signed with Altach (where he has been on trial).
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Dallas has offered Denilson a new contract for this season at a reduced rate. Will he take it? Is he worth it?
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George Tanner of the FC Rocky blog says Colorado has cut loose 2 veteran players - Jose Pepe Cancela & Tony Sanneh.
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USL - First Division

The Oregonian with a story on Portland Timbers mascot Timber Jim who is retiring from his role. He was awesome. After Portland goals he would saw off a chunk of log. It does not get better than that. Thank you Jim, you are my hero. (thanks to Brian for this one)
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The Austin Statesman on the newly announced First Division team, Austin Aztex. They will begin play in the 2009 season.
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USA

Official Team USA blog.
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From the USA blog - a Q & A with Pat Noonan on signing with Aalesund in Norway, and leaving New England.
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Goalkeeper Brad Guzan is expected to be back from a trip to visit Celtic in Scotland for this camp.
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USA Olympic Team

The team will start another week long training session in Bradenton FL on Saturday.
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2 more players, Adam Cristman of New England & Nathan Sturgis of Salt Lake, were added to restart of training camp. 4 other players left the USA senior camp to join this one as well: Jozy Altidore, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan & Marvell Wynne. Some of these last 4 may rejoin the senior team prior to the Feb 6 game v Mexico.
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U23 official blog.
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USA U20's

Here is the team roster for the Copa Chivas tournament. Alex Nimo, Ellis McLoughlin & Jorge Flores are probably the best known players on this team.
-And one last minute change to the roster.
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Copa Chivas in Guadalajara Mexico
Matches & Scores:
Sat Jan 26 v Club America
Sun Jan 27 v UAG Tecos
Mon Jan 28 v Locomotiv Moscow
Tue Jan 29 v Estudiantes
Wed Jan 30 v Santos
Jan 31 - Feb 2 - Quarters, Semis & Final
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US Soccer News

The Los Angeles Times with a 2nd article on the growing conflict between club soccer and high school teams with teenage kids. Great stuff on where the game is headed in America.
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CONCACAF

Mark yer calendar: Mexico's U23 aka Olympic team v Paraguay on Feb 27 in Tijuana.
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Americans In Europe

Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer talks to USA & Heerenveen midfielder Michael Bradley about his life in Holland, his incredible run of 13 goals so far this season, and the future.
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The Fulham website has 3 articles with 2 of the teams 17 American players:
-Carlos Bocanegra talks about their next opponent Bolton.
-A fairly lighthearted Q & A with Brian McBride.
-Manager Roy Hodgson comments on McBride's return from injury.
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American Soccer Daily is reporting that 2 young Americans are on a trial run at Danish team Randers. Lee Nguyen, who would be a loan move from PSV, and Will John who would be a transfer move from Kansas City are the players.
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European Cup Competitions

Copa Italia - Quarterfinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jan 24
Lazio 1-1 Fiorentina
-2nd leg matches next week.
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Spanish Copa del Rey - Quarterfinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jan 24
Racing Santander 2-0 Athletic Bilbao
Villareal 0-0 Barcelona
-2nd leg matches next week.
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Big Euro Matches This Weekend
-Sun Jan 27
Sporting v Porto - the biggest Portuguese rivalry.
Real Madrid v Villarreal - #1 v #3 - are Villa contenders or pretenders like Atletico.
Feyenoord v Groningen - #3&4 in Holland tied at 39 points, 4 behind the leader PSV.
-Wed Jan 30
Ajax v PSV
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European News

England has confirmed a friendly match on Nov 19 in Berlin v Germany.
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Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillet finished a refinancing deal on the team, meaning it doesn't look like they are going anywhere any time soon. The Liverpeople are freaking out.
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The Reuters Soccer Blog ponders why the world isn't going nuts for Sweden & Inter star Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
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Quiz Question: Who currently leads the Turkish Super League? Is it Besiktas, Fenerbahce or Galatasaray? Do you know? It's a trick question, cuz the answer is Sivasspor. Who? Reuters tells us who they are.
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The Times with an article on new Scotland boss George Burley.
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Andres Iniesta has signed a 4 year contract extension with Barcelona.
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African Cup of Nations

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Sun Jan 20
Ghana 2-1 Guinea
-Mon Jan 21
Namibia 1-5 Morocco
Nigeria 0-1 Cote D’Ivoire
Mali 1-0 Benin
-Tue Jan 22
Cameroon 2-4 Egypt
Zambia 3-0 Sudan
-Wed Jan 23
Tunisia 2-2 Senegal
South Africa 1-1 Angola
-Thu Jan 24
Guinea 3-2 Morocco
Ghana 1-0 Namibia
-Fri Jan 25
Cote D’Ivoire 4-1 Benin - Cote goals by Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure, Abdelkader Keita & Aruna Dindane. Ben goal by Razak Omotoyossi.
Nigeria v Mali
-Sat Jan 26
Cameroon v Zambia
Egypt v Sudan
-Sun Jan 27
Senegal v Angola
Tunisia v South Africa
-Mon Jan 28
Ghana v Morocco
Guinea v Namibia
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You can watch all the games for a fee or see video highlights for free at Telesud.
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Brian Oliver writing for the Guardian from Ghana with an article on Nigeria and coach Bertie Vogts.
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allAfrica has a report on Thursdays 2 matches.
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This Day says Kanu is trying to rally his Nigerian team after losing in match 1.
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Kanu told the Daily Champion in Nigeria that the Super Eagles intend to win the cup. He was wearing a Chicago White Sox cap during the interview.
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A Malian man walked all the to Takoradi Ghana to see his national team play, in hopes of inspiring them. He arrived during their first match v Benin. It took him 27 days to walk it. I wish there was more on this story, but that's all I have found so far.
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Other African News

Two stories from the Inquirer of Liberia on the countries preparations in qualifying for WC 2010.
-"Time Is Running Out"
-Lone Star 2010 Ambition Remains Uncertain