The Mysterious World Of Illusion News

Derby County are set to make a serious bid to buy Kansas City forward Eddie Johnson.

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Didn't the USA training camp open in Carson CA yesterday? As of this morning there is absolutely NO word from there. What in the name of Sam Hell are you journalists doing??? [UPDATE] Mid-afternoon today US Soccer re-launched the USA Men's Team blog. Short story, couple of photos. That helps, a little.

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Over in the right hand column I have now listed all the USA World Cup Qualifier dates for 2008.

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The #1 reason Luis Figo will not move to a MLS team this month - He wants to win Serie A & the Champions League with Inter. Doesn't mean it can't happen next summer (which I think it will).


New Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio has chosen not to keep assistant coach John Harkes on with the new staff. But it does look like the ABMOD Richie Williams will stay.
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Ben Knight on the Toronto Globe & Mail On Soccer blog has a great list of New Years thank you's.
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It's finally official, and the entire world has taken in a new breath of air - David Beckman [CORRECTED] trained with Arsenal today. Here are the pic's from Arsenal to prove it (Cesc Fabregas seems to be loving it).
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with the latest on the Chicago coaching search.
-Arroyave also has an update of the update on his Red Card blog. Plus news that former Fire coach Dave Sarachan is helping Bob Bradley at the current Team USA camp.
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Jeff Bradley at MLSnet with his top goals of the year on his First XI. This is a great list, but why no links to video of the actual goals?? One last word/rant though on my Toronto ballot box stuffing - Bradley writes: "Toronto went like the entire summer without scoring a goal and they've got four Goals of the Week out of 29 listed. Talk about quality over quantity." They were no all quality, it was quantity of votes. I am glad they love their team, they make most of the rest of us look feeble, but enough is enough.
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Greg Lalas's column for Goal.com - The 3-5-2.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet now jumps on the "must tell the San Jose & Billy Beane financial genius story" train. Seriously, this is like the 4th or 5th time this story has been written by somebody in the past few months. And I am stupid enough to keep reading them while never learning one new thing since the first one. Damn.
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John Haydon of the Washington Times with an article on the departure of DC United keeper Troy Perkins.
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Former San Jose Clash player Michael Emenalo has been officially announced as the new chief scout for Chelsea. Back in early November du Nord linked to a story on Emenalo from the Arizona Daily Record.
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Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree with another of his positional scouting reports on players entering the MLS Superdraft later this month. This time its midfielders.
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Scotland's Express Sports talks to former New England midfielder Andy Dorman about his new club St Mirren [CLUB NAME CORRECTED - THANKS].
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Interliga
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 2
Monterrey 0-1 UNAM Pumas - goal by Pablo Bonells
Cruz Azul 0-1 San Luis - goal by Alfredo Moreno(PK)
-Thu Jan 3
Toluca 0-0 Atlas
Morelia 0-1 America - goal by Alejandro Arguello
-Sat Jan 5
Cruz Azul v Monterrey
San Luis v UNAM Pumas
-Sun Jan 6
America v Toluca
Atlas v Morelia
-Tue Jan 8
Monterrey v San Luis
UNAM Pumas v Cruz Azul
-Wed Jan 9
Toluca v Morelia
Atlas v America
-Sat Jan 12
Semifinals
-All matches are played here in the USA, cuz they make loads of money!
-The top two teams will get spots in la Copa Libertadores.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with a match report on America-Morelia.
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The Chronicle also reports on the Atlas-Toluca match.
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The Trinidad Express says Trinidad & Tobago has hired revered Colombian Francisco Maturana as their new national team coach. He was in charge of Colombia when they had their greatest team in 1994.
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My Minnesota Thunder have announced that they have not found a new home, and will again play their games at James Griffin Stadium aka The Jimmy in St Paul in 2008. Our pal Brian Quarstad writes about it for Blue Sky Soccer.
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Only one really big (plus another) Euro game this weekend:
-Sat Jan 5
Espanyol v Villarreal - this could be a really fun high flying affair.
-Sun Jan 6
Sevilla v Betis - the nasty old Seville derby! A classic. But these games are always more fun to attend then just watch on TV. Wish I was there.
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The Guardian with an article on fabled old London club Queens Park Rangers who have new multi-billionaire owners. What happens now?
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This weekend is packed full of England's FA Cup 3rd Round matches. See em all here.
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The Times of London says Newcastle midfielder Joey Barton has checked in to a health care facility until his next court appearance. He was released from jail on bond yesterday after yet another violent outburst.
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Ronaldinho will sit out Barcelona's game at Mallorca dues to tendonitis (left knee).
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France & Lyon keeper Gregory Coupet is ready to get back on the field after a long recovery from a knee injury. France has Cup games this weekend.
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Valencia has signed Boca Juniors midfielder Ever Banega. He is only 19. Last year he went from being unknown to us, to leading the Argentina's U17 & U20 World Cup teams and taking over the central midfield role do to the absence of Juan Roman Riquelme. Amazing.
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With Bayern Munich coach Omar Hitzfeld set to leave the team at the end of this season, the rumor is that Jose Mourinho is who the club wants to replace him. But then again Marcello Lippi's name comes up too.
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Reuters with a general story on team preparations updates leading up to the African Cup of Nations.
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Jeffrey Marcus on the New York Times Goal blog with the latest injury updates pre-African Cup of Nations.
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Jack Bell also on the New York Times Goal blog talks to injured Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre, who was in NYC on vacation while rehabbing.