The Shape I'm In News

Nike will unveil the brand new USA shirt tomorrow, Wed Jan 30, on the US Soccer web site.

~and~

Ian Plenderleith of the US Soccer Players Assoc has a fantastic Q & A with USA & Fulham goalkeeper Kasey Keller who is returning from injury.

~and~

Guillermo Barros Schelotto has arrived in Columbus to begin preseason training.

~and~

Are you one of those people who love love loves the table soccer aka subbuteo? If so, then you need to get over to World Table Soccer cuz they are having a big ol' sale. Right now.


MLS News

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle confirms that Nate Jaqua has left Houston and signed with Rheindorf Altach in Austria. What are the odds of one MLS team losing 2 forwards in one week to 2 different teams in Austria?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Houston has signed 33 year old English goal keeper Tony Caig as a back up to their Grand Old Man Pat Onstad. Caig was Vancouver's goalkeeper in their 2006 championship season, and played last season for Gretna in Scotland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on day 1 of training camp for the new look DC United.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Today at the National Press Club DC United will unveil their first Designated Player - he is Argentine playmaker Marcelo Gallardo from Paris St Germain.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Haydon of the Washington Times helps us keep track of the onslaught of new South American talent that is arriving at DC United this week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goff on his Soccer Insider blog has a quick Q & A with DC owner Victor MacFarlane about a potential stadium deal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New England forward Taylor Twellman confirmed on Glenn Davis's Houston radio show last night that New England had turned down a third and final offer from Preston in England for just over $3million. Wow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe on New England's top draft pick Rob Valentino. Is he the next Noonan-Dempsey-Dorman-Parkhurst-Riley-Cristman-Wells?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Sun Chronicle of New England says the Revs are a team in transition. Personally I see players moving one direction only. I think transition is a two way street.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of the Herald News on the return for 08 of Claudio Reyna.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer looks at the young New York Red Bull Academy player Matt Kassel who is eligible to sign for the senior squad and apparently has all the talent needed to make the move. Should he do it? Or should he go to college at Maryland.
-Soccer By Ives reports that Kassel was a part of the Red Bulls opening day training session.
-Metrofanatic gives us the highlights and full rundown of who is at this Red Bulls pre-camp.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New York has re-hired Richie Williams as an assistant coach.
-And through thick and thin virtually unknown goalkeeper coach Des McAleenan has stay on at Metro Stars - Red Bulls. Miraculously this will be his 8th year with the team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Daily Utah Chronicle looks at Real Salt Lakes bevy of youngsters in training camp.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News on the arrival of RSL players for the opening of preseason camp.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune on who is at the opening of RSL's 4th preseason training camp.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob Luder of the Kansas City Star says the story with the Wizards is who ISN'T at the seasons first practice session.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Daily Soccer says Brann has sold left back Ramiro Corrales to MLS. Houston hold his league rights and I am sure they would love to have on their team. Or they can trade him to someone, cuz the Dynamo are desperate for forwards.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul Gardner of the New York Sun picks on the MLS Superdraft. Paul just can't help himself, he hates mediocrity.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times talks to a former NFL player who enjoys his Sunday's watching the worlds football. Plus other MLS & world soccer notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

4 MLS teams will partake in a pre-season tournament of sorts in San Antonio Texas. March 4-8 will see the Houston Dynamo, DC United, Toronto FC & Chivas USA face off in 3 sets of double headers called The Texas Pro Soccer Festival. Great idea, really crappy name.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Dixon of the US Soccer Players Assoc says MLS needs to start looking for talent in Africa the way they are in South America.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumor City

Polish press is reporting that forward Maciej Zurawski of Celtic is signing with Columbus.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer by Ives is reporting that long time MLS assistant coach and short time Kansas City head coach Brian Bliss will be named Technical Director of the Columbus Crew.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Soccer Insider is reporting that American midfielder Danny Szetelza is being loaned out by his club Racing Santander to Italian club Brescia, who play in Serie B.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jacob Thomas has been cut loose from Columbus, and just might be retiring. He is one of those guys that we saw playing in the lower divisions of Germany and wondered what kind of talent he really had. So Sigi Schmid brings him home and he never really does anything. Oh well.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division

The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle says things are very bad financially in Rochester Raging Rhino World. They may have to sell their new stadium. How did this happen?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA

Official Team USA blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle says Mexico feels a heavy pressure on them whenever they play the USA anymore.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA Olympic Team

U23 official blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20's

Copa Chivas in Guadalajara Mexico
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jan 26
USA 2-2 Club America - USA goals by Felix Garcia & Alex Nimo. CA goals by Jose Ayala & Andres Ademar.
-Sun Jan 27
USA 1-1 UAdG Tecos - USA goal by Felix Garcia. UAdG goal by Miguel Vallijo.
-Mon Jan 28
USA 0-1 Locomotiv Moscow - goal by unknown.
-Tue Jan 29
USA v Estudiantes
-Wed Jan 30
USA v Santos
-Jan 31 - Feb 2 - Quarters, Semis & Final
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer News

Ronald Blum of the Associated Press with an article on the growing USA youth development system. Via Yahoo Sports.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF

Nick Green at the Daily Breeze gives his not so rosy view of the newly announced CONCACAF Champions League.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times Colonist in Canada reports that, yes Vancouver, Montreal & Toronto will face off for a spot in the CONCACAF Champions League as their countries representative.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FMF

Graciela Resendiz of Soccernet gives us the run down of Week 2 of the Mexican league Clausura.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

The final qualifying round begins this week.
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jan 29
Arsenal v Mineros
-Wed Jan 30
Cruzeiro v Cerro Porteno
Atlas v La Paz
-Thu Jan 31
Olmedo v Lanus
Ciencciano v Montevideo Wanderers
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

The word from Germany on Twin Cities star player Kedio Pour - he is on trial at Borussia Dortmund: "Keido played with Borussia's U16 team on Saturday and bossed the match from the defensive midfield position - he's a natural forward. He chipped in with an assist and hit the crossbar in a 4-0 win for Borussia. Keido will be training with Dortmund's U17 squad last night (as the older clubs are all working on fitness). Most importantly, based upon his performance Saturday, Keido's been called into the Professional "B" Team (reserve team) for a friendly against the German U21 National Team on Tuesday (today). Keido is then scheduled to play with the U19's in another friendly on Wednesday." Sounds to me like he is getting one hell of a trial look.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A regular du Nord reader named George H has made a trip over to London, and made a visit to Fulhamerica. He wrote a trip report for the great Fulham blog Craven Cottage Newsround. (thanks to BQ for this one too)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Young American centerback Ofori Sarkodie is on a trial run with Aalesunds in Norway. That is the team that just signed Pat Noonan. He played for the USA at the 2007 U20 World Cup and the 2005 U17 World Cup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European Cup Competitions

Copa Italia
Quarterfinal Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Jan 29
Roma 1-0 Sampdoria - Roma advance 2-1 on aggregate.
-Wed Jan 30
Catania v Udinese - (2-3)
Fiorentina v Lazio - (1-1)
Juventus v Inter - (2-2)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

The Times of London with a story on Manchester City who blame their FA Cup loss on balloons. And not just any balloons. Balloons from their own fans. Light Blue and White balloons. Hahaha.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil Ball of Soccernet watches football on TV from both Spain (where he lives) and England (where he is a native) and tells us about the different experiences. Plus his usual La Liga insight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tottenham has signed right fullback [CORRECTED] Alan Hutton from Rangers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Juventus has signed Malian midfielder Mohamed Sissoko from Liverpool.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Italian Players Association has named Rikki Kaka as the Player Of The Year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sammy Kuffour has left Roma to sign with Ajax.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times looks at Fabio Capello and England and England and Italy and....
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with former Bayern Munich goal scoring machine Roy Makaay now of Feyenoord in his native Holland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times says that even though it has been many years since the team left Wimbledon for Milton Keynes, the old fans are still pretty pissed off.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A handful of stories from the Guardian:
-Kevin McCarra looks at the stupid money the Premiership bottom dwellers are spending to try and save the season.
-It's time again for the Romario & Edmundo show at Vasco da Gama!
-Can Marseille turn it around and do some damage in the second half of the season in Ligue Un?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Germany's Bundesliga is set to kick back into action this weekend after their winter break. Here are the top 5 teams:
36 Bayern Munich
36 Werder Bremen
32 Hamburg
30 Bayer Leverkusen
29 Schalke
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Top Goal Scorers in La Liga
14 Diego Milito - Zaragoza
14 Luis Fabiano - Sevilla
12 Ruud van Nistelrooy - Real Madrid
11 Daniel Guiza - Mallorca
11 Kahveci Nihat - Villarreal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Top Goal Scorers in The Premiership
17 Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United
16 Emmanuel Adebayor - Arsenal
12 Benjani Mwaruwari - Portsmouth
11 Roque Santa Cruz - Blackburn
11 Robbie Keane - Tottenham
11 Fernando Torres - Liverpool
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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
Nigeria 0-0 Mali
-Sat Jan 26
Cameroon 5-1 Zambia
Egypt 3-0 Sudan
-Sun Jan 27
Senegal 1-3 Angola
Tunisia 3-1 South Africa
-Mon Jan 28
Ghana 2-0 Morocco
Guinea 1-1 Namibia
-Tue Jan 29
Nigeria 2-0 Benin - goals by John Obi Mikel & Yakubu Aiyegbeni.
Cote D’Ivoire 3-0 Mali - goals by Didier Drogba, Marc Zoro & Boubacar Sanogo.
-Wed Jan 30
Egypt v Zambia
Cameroon v Sudan
-Thu Jan 31
Tunisia v Angola
Senegal v South Africa
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You can watch all the games for a fee or see video highlights for free at Telesud.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ivory Coast, Ghana and Guinea have advanced to the knock out rounds. Either Nigeria or Mali will join them today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brian Oliver of the Guardian gets all geeky over trivial matters at the ACN.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Accra Daily Mail on Ghana's win over Morocco.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Daily Mail also has a story on Cameroon's struggles to get it going.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Hush at Soccernet gets us up to date on the news from the Group Stage.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters says the scores are up, which is great, but goalkeepers are complaining about the ball. Did you expect goalkeepers to take the blame?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters with a story on the surprise star of the games so far - Angolan forward Manucho.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The folks at the Reuters Soccer blog love how hard the Africans tackle, then get right up and back into the action. None of the rolling around in "agony" crap.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune covers the story of Benin & Namibia both being offered cash to fix matches at the ACN.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Lalas for the New York Times Goal blog looks at the rivalry between West & North Africa.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The NYTimes Goal blog also has an article on the hot news at the ACN - like Support for Gaza, and potential match fixing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Even our main man Luis Bueno at the Press Enterprise is watching some ACN. He gives us his "winners and losers" so far.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Finally today, Austin Merrill, a former Associated Press reporter in Ivory Coast comes to us via Adam Spangler and This Is American Soccer - A report from Ghana!!!!