New Breeds Of Grasshoppers News

John Spencer turned down Chicago head coaching job cuz they low balled him!!

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Jonah Freedman is reporting on his Thrown-Ins blog that San Jose has bought keeper Joe Cannon from Los Angeles.

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Dallas has signed Duilio Davino. The Mexican defender played for Club America last fall. It's always great to have a new villain in MLS.

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The USA game next week v Sweden will be #500 in the history of US Soccer. Quite the milestone if you ask me.

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Here is a great sight to see - Brain McBride on the training field - from Fulham's web site.

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The rumor mill is on fire with word that the new team in Seattle will be known as Emerald City FC.


Great article from Adam Spangler at This Is American Soccer. He sits down to talk with Chicago Fire midfielder Bakary Soumare, and his high school coach Martin Jacobson of New York's famed Martin Luther King high school. As always, top notch stuff from TIAS.
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Sportsnet Ontario with an article on the seriousness of the Montreal Impact to join MLS. Could Canadian Liverpool owner George Gillet be involved?
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Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram and Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News with a stories on FC Dallas's signing of Dirty Davino.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with the story of John Spencer walking away from the offer of Chicago head coaches position.
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Luis Arroyave on his Red Card blog says another big rumor in Chicago has Best Buy sponsoring the Fire shirts next season.
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Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree does a Q & A with Dallas manager Steve Morrow.
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The rumors continue to bounce right along about 34 year old Argentine forward Claudio Lopez signing with an MLS team. His current club is Racing in his native country.
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I also got several emails today about a new rumor that has Clint Mathis heading to play in Greece. And just like the rumors having him head off to Australia, I say the same thing. Go Clint Go. How often do we get chances in life to see other parts of the world, and get paid while we are there?
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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch talks to Crew GM Mark McCullers about Guillermo Barros Schelotto and another possible big name signing (a forward?).
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Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune looks ahead to what he sees for 2008.
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Bob Luder of the KC Star says Kansas City is moving ahead as if forward Eddie Johnson will still be on the roster come the season opener. I am glad that they are confident, but I sure hope they have a back up plan.
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From the Why-Oh-Why department: the LA Galaxy announced that they have re-signed forward Alan Garden. To which the natural response is - Why oh why would you ever do that?
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LA defender Ante Jazic has also undergone surgery to fix ankle ligaments and he will most likely be out of action until early summer.
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Dan Loney at the US Soccer Players Assoc on Beckman, Year Two.
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And Andrew Dixon, also of the USSPA gives us One Grown Man's Opinion - his 3 wishes for 08.
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The Houston Chronicle with the latest positive step toward building a downtown stadium for the Dynamo. But complications with a possible new owner for the team could make this a real bitch to get built.
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Buzz Carrick reporting for Soccernet, scouts the forwards that will be available for next weeks MLS Superdraft.
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Each year MLS signs a crop of very young players to a special contract via money provided by a sponsor, currently Adidas. These players do not count against regular salary limits etc etc. They are all available for the upcoming Superdraft. Here are this years players:
-Eric Avila - M - 20 - UC Santa Barbara
-Tony Beltran - D - 20 - UCLA
-Josh Lambo - G - 17 - Chicago Magic FC
-Chance Myers - D - 20 - UCLA
-Alex Nimo - F - 17 - FC Portland
-Patrick Nyarko - F - 22 - Virginia Tech
-Ciaran O'Brien - M - 20 - UC Santa Barbara
-Brek Shea - M - 17 - Texans FC
-Rob Valentino - D - 22 - U San Francisco
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Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star with an article on local player O'Brian White who is hoping to make a big splash in the Superdraft.
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The MLS Combine starts tomorrow in Ft Lauderdale FL.
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USA Training Camp in Carson CA
Game on Sat Jan 19 v Sweden in Carson CA at the Home Depot Center.
-And seeing as this is the 500th all time game in USA history, the federation is unofficially polling fans to see who they think are the 3 best USA players of all time. Here is who Michael Parkhurst picked.
-I gave them my top 3 (and my reasoning behind it):
Tony Meola
Tab Ramos
Brain McBride
-I am not that much of a historian, so it really only goes back to the 90 World Cup for my beginnings with US Soccer.
I didn't pick these 3 so much for sheer accomplishments or even my "personal favorites", but for what I perceive to be their innate ability to bring that little something extra special that you can't describe in words. A presence maybe, or a spark, or maybe even pure will power. You know that twinkle in their eye that allows them to go above and beyond. And this is not said to diminish in any way what all three of them have pulled off individually for the USA. But again I come back to that unknown property they possess (and very few others ever do) that impresses me most.
On the other hand there are close to a half dozen other guys that come really close to that same list for me: Eric Wynalda, Brad Friedel, Landon Donovan, Eddie Pope & Claudio Reyna.
And if I took the time to really dig deep I bet I could find a dozen more lodged somewhere in my brain from the last 17 years.
Who are yours?
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Official team blog.
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US Soccer has audio interviews with defender Drew Moor (of FC Dallas) and goalkeeper Brad Guzan (of Chivas USA).
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And some video of training too.
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Brand new official photos of training.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports comes up with his 2008 "to do" list for Team USA.
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Rogers also gives us the story of American forward Jeremiah White who plays for Aarhus in Denmark.
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USA U23 aka Olympic Team Training Camp - in Bradenton FL
US Soccer gives us photos & video from camp.
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U23 official blog.
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It's funny to hear Johann Smith talk now, cuz he is getting that Bolton accent going.
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Andrew Rogers at Soccer 365 has a Q & A with USA U20 coach Thomas Rongen.
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Ravi Ubha at Soccernet gives us the update on Jay DeMerit & Watford's race to rejoin the Premiership next season, plus other notable news about Americans playing in Europe.
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Interliga
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 2 - Group Stage
Monterrey 0-1 UNAM Pumas - goal by Pablo Bonells
Cruz Azul 0-1 San Luis - goal by Alfredo Moreno(PK)
-Thu Jan 3 - Group Stage
Toluca 0-0 Atlas
Morelia 0-1 America - goal by Alejandro Arguello
-Sat Jan 5 - Group Stage
Cruz Azul 1-0 Monterrey - goal by Edgar Andrade.
San Luis 2-0 UNAM Pumas - goals by Tressor Moreno & Alfredo Moreno.
-Sun Jan 6 - Group Stage
America 2-1 Toluca - CA goals by Alejandro Arguello & Richard Nunez. Toluca goal by Vicente Sanchez.
Atlas 2-0 Morelia - goals both by Bruno Marioni.
-Tue Jan 8 - Group Stage
Monterrey 1-0 San Luis - goal by Humberto Suazo.
UNAM Pumas 0-1 Cruz Azul - goal by Nicolas Vigneri.
-Wed Jan 9 - Group Stage
Toluca 3-1 Morelia - Tol goals by Cristian Gimenez, Zinha and Vicente Sanchez. Mor goal by Ever Guzman.
Atlas 2-3 America - Atl goals both by Bruno Marioni (2nd on PK). Amer goals by Ismael Rodriquez, Salvador Cabanas & Alejandro Arquello.
-Sat Jan 12 - Semifinals
San Luis v Atlas
America v Cruz Azul
-The two teams who win the Semifinal matches will get spots in la Copa Libertadores.
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Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times has a Q & A on his Korner Pocket blog with American defender Michael Orozco who plays for San Luis in Mexico.
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Copa Del Rey
Round of 16 - 2 legs - played on Jan 9 & 16
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 9
Sevilla 1-1 Barcelona
Recreativo Huelva 1-0 Villareal
Getafe 3-0 Levante
Athletic Bilbao 1-1 Espanyol
Zaragoza 1-1 Racing Santander
Betis 1-2 Valencia
-Thu Jan 10
Mallorca v Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid 0-0 Valladolid
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English League/Carling Cup - Semifinals
First Leg
-Tue Jan 8
Chelsea 2-1 Everton
-Wed Jan 9
Arsenal 1-1 Tottenham
-Return legs are on Jan 16.
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Manchester United will hold preseason training in South Africa next summer, and play some friendlies too.
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The CBC gives us their list of 10 players to watch for in 2008.
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John Molinaro of the CBC with an article on the surprise team in France this season - Nancy.
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The Independent of England with their annual list of the top players in the UK who are not playing in the Premiership at this time.
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Dutch mega-goal scorer Ruud Van Nistelrooy has signed a contract extension with Real Madrid through the 2010 season.
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Fulham defender Moritz Volz with his first diary entry of 08. Always top notch.
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Tottenham forward Dimitar Berbatov has been named the 2007 Bulgarian Footballer Of The Year. And forward Nikolay Dimitrov of Levski was named Young Player Of The Year.
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Everton has signed Valencia midfielder Manuel Fernandes to a loan deal for the rest of this season.
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The Glasgow Herald with an article on former Rangers coach Paul Le Geun who was brought in after great success at Lyon, only to flop and is now in charge at Paris St Germaine, where he is still struggling.
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And the Glas Her with a second story, this one on the man who followed Le Guen at Rangers, Walter Smith.
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The Guardian tells us what a decent human being Rangers main man Smith is.
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UEFA.com with an article on the boy they say is gonna save Milan. The Duck. Alexander Pato. They are putting a ton of pressure on this 18 year old from Brazil.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the ouster of Sam Alardyce after only a few months in charge of Newcastle.
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The Observer with a report card on the Premiership teams at the half way marker.
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Paul Gardner of the New York Sun gives us his description and defense of Stylish Soccer. Me thinks he doth protest to loudly.
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Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated with the latest World Club Power Rankings. With so few games being played in the past 3 weeks there has been only slight movement in the ranks.
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African Cup of Nations
Reuters talks to Senegal captain El Hadji Diouf, who believes his team is one of the favorites to with the Cup.