The Notion News

Strong rumors coming from Fulham that Carlos Bocanegra is on his way OUT! Are they true? And where would he go?

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Oh Sweet Sonny Jim - Jack Bell of the New York Times is now connecting Brad Guzan to Fulham. Supposedly they will have scouts at the USA v Sweden game on Saturday. Will this Fulhamerica madness never end? On another hand I heard the name Brad Guzan and the team Bayern Munich linked as well.

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A stunning article from of Germany, translated by Big Soccer poster Fresh Aah - It all goes wrong for American leftback Heath Pearce at Hansa Rostock.

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Reuters is reporting that Dominica has filed an ethics complaint with FIFA against CONCACAF President Jack Warner. They say Warner is trying to force the leadership of the Dominica Federation to resign. Oh, Jack! What are you doing now you rascal.

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The Women's Professional Soccer league which is set to launch a year from now, has unveiled their website and league logo. Mia Hamm is the silhouette in that logo.



MLS

Houston's star midfielder Dwayne De Rosario was named Canadian Player Of The Year for the 3rd straight time! Huge for DDR!
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Real Salt Lake appears to have snatched up another South American - centerback Jamison Olave from Millonarios in Colombia. Possibly a loan deal.
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Bob Luder of the Kansas City Star with an article on the departure of Wizards leftback Jose Burciaga to Colorado.
-Luder says that KC is trying to sign Colombian striker Ivan Trujillo of Deportivo Cali.
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And KC may not be done cleaning house as the name of Sasha Victorine keeps popping up as trade bait.
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Oz City has a video of the new Kansas City shirt that shows it off even better than last weeks photo did. Thanks Brian.
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MetroFanatic is reporting that New York has picked up goalkeeper Zach Thornton, presumably as a back up. He rode the bench for Colorado last season.
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The Norwich Evening News in England confirms that Chicago goal keeper Matt Pickens is there for a try out.
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Is rightback Chris Albright going to be the next player shipped out of Los Angeles? Stay tuned.
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St Pauli in Bundesliga2 confirmed that Ian Joy has left the club. He is an American defender who has supposedly signed a deal with Real Salt Lake.
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On the season opening weekend FSC is going to do a doubleheader - New England v Houston followed by LA v Colorado. Great way to kick it all off.
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Don Cuddy at Soccer365 talks to former New England midfielder Andy Dorman who says he wanted to stay in MLS but could not get the contract he wanted to stay.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer says the Pennsylvania Governor has promised to help fund $50million toward a new MLS stadium.
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Adweek with a story on how MLS is launching mobile phone content for JAPAN!
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MLS Superdraft

John Harkes will be one of the ESPN2 announcers during the draft. When Harkes was on the weekly FSC highlight show he was atrocious. His idea of analysis was "Look at this!" and "Watch this!" Mr Ed could have done better. But at the 06 World Cup he really did a great job. I very much enjoyed the game I heard him do. Let's hope this is more like it. Good luck Harksy.
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The Ohio State Lantern has confirmed that Roger Espinoza has signed with MLS via Generation Adidas.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet with a draft preview.
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Buzz Carrick at Soccernet with his Top 20 prospects in the draft. He says forward Patrick Nyarko is the pick of the litter.
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Michael Lewis at MLSnet sums up the combine and sizes up the draft.
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The Baltimore Sun with an article on the Superdraft, which is happening in their city this year.
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Team USA

USA v Sweden - Sat Jan 19 at Home Depot Center in Carson CA - game time is 730pm central
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Official team blog.
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US Soccer with video from a full field intersquad scrimmage.
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US Soccer with some notes on the Sweden game.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet with an article on the cool calm confidence Bob Bradley is trying to give his team.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post has a story on USA & Aarhus forward Jeremiah White.
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US Soccer gives us a brief history of the teams first 499 games! Number 500 is Saturday.
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The US Soccer Players Assoc with an article that goes position by position to try and pick out a first 11 from the current camp.
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Greg Daurio at MLSnet with an article on Jozy Altidore's progress at the current USA camp.
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Andrew Dixon of the US Soccer Players Assoc examines Houston midfielder Ricardo Clark and how he fits into the future of Team USA.
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USA U23 aka Olympic Team Training Camp

U23 official blog.

I got several emails from readers telling me that the reason Lubos Kubik was scene with Peter Nowak at the MLS combine is that he is an assistant coach under Nowak for the USA U23 team. I don't remember ever reading about that. But one reader (Jeff) directed me to the US Soccer page that announced the teams roster for the current camp, and sure enough there is Kubik listed as an assistant. Was there ever an announcement? Thanks to everyone who pitched in to answer that question.
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MetroFanatic with a story on former Metro Star's midfielder Petter Villegas. He is actually in the running for a spot on a revamped Puerto Rico team. Villegas plays for the Puerto Rico Islanders in the First Division. (There are also some very odd names on the list of players PR is chasing for their national team.)
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FIFA.com has an article on the El Salvador national team. They have been through tough times lately. Are they ready to move up again?
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English FA Cup
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:
-Wed Jan 16
Man City 1-0 West Ham
-Jonathan Spector - was on the bench but did not play in his teams loss.
-Tue Jan 22
Bristol Rovers v Fulham
Sheffield Wednesday v Derby
-The 4th round will be played Jan 25, 26 & 27.
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Copa Del Rey - Round of 16
2nd leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jan 15
Barcelona 0-0 Sevilla - tied 1-1 on aggregate, so Barca advance on the away goals tiebreaker.
-Wed Jan 16
Levante 0-1 Getafe - Getafe advance 4-0 on aggregate.
Espanyol 1-1 Athletic Bilbao (1-1)
Racing Santander v Zaragoza - series ends tied 2-2, then Bilbao adv 4-3 on PK's.
Valencia 2-1 Betis - Valencia do something right and advance 4-2 on agg.
Valladolid 1-1 Atletico Madrid - series ends tied 1-1, but Atletico adv on away goals tie breaker.
Real Madrid 0-1 Mallorca - Mallorca pull of the enormous 3-1 aggregate upset to advance. Excellent.
Villareal 2-0 Recreativo Huelva - Villa adv 2-1 on agg.
-The Quarterfinals will be played over two legs on Jan 23 & 30.
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Copa Italia - Round of 16
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue Jan 15
Juventus 5-3 Empoli - Juve win 6-5 on aggregate.
-Wed Jan 16
Palermo 0-1 Udinese - Udi win 0-1 on agg.
Fiorentina 2-0 Ascoli - Fiore win 3-1 on agg.
Sampdoria 4-0 Cagliari - Samp adv 4-1 on agg.
Catania 1-1 Milan - Cat adv 3-1 on agg.
Roma 4-0 Torino - Roma adv 5-3 on agg.
-Thu Jan 17
Inter v Reggina (4-1)
Napoli v Lazio (1-2)
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Soccernet talks to former Fulham manager Chris Coleman about his short run at Real Sociedad. Why did it end so soon?
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Italian striker Christiano Lucarelli has also had a short run at the new home. He has departed Shakhtar Donetsk after only half a season to join Parma.
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An Olympiakos fan was killed by a Panathanikos fan after the two teams met in a league cup match last night. The guy was stabbed to death. Sad.
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Two from Rob Hughes at the International Herald Tribune. First on the return to the Milan line up of Ronaldo, which was overshadowed in print by the debut of The Duck, but on the field Ronaldo was incredible! AND An article on the agreement between UEFA/FIFA and European clubs on compensation for players involved in major tournaments - AKA the opening of the can of worms.
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Marina Hyde of the Guardian says the Liverpool ownership controversy should not be a surprise to any one.
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African Cup of Nations
-In the USA the ACN can be seen on TV via 3ATeleSud. I can get it via Dish Network. It will cost you $15 to add this channel, so I say that you should sign up for it, watch the tournament and then cancel it. That's what I am gonna do.
-Weblog That's On Point has been going Group by Group to break down each team.
-You can find previews of every time and heavy duty coverage of the ACN at the World Cup Blog. They have a special ACN section. Excellent,
-Our old pal Andrew Hush at Soccernet previews the team from South Africa.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=498587&cc=5901
-Paul Doyle of the Guardian with Group previews: Group A - Group B - Group C - Group D - [just added today] Group D
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Let us end today with the always insightful Steven Wells, or Swells to those of us in the know, of the Guardian with an article about the fact that many in America HATE soccer. And are not afraid to voice that ignorant opinion. Here is the first paragraph (note a slight touch of sarcasm): Soccer is a slow, boring, low-scoring, meaningless, super-sucky pseudo-sport played exclusively by lesbians, small children and homosexual Nazi psychopaths with bad haircuts. And terrorists. Children who play soccer all grow up to be "asshole incompetents" and "knock-kneed milksops" and "flopping on the ground, writhing-in-pain homos". Soccer is being forced on the American people by the sinister "global elite" secret world government. Soccer, in short, "sucks bat-shit off cave walls". And did we mention that it's gay?