You Say News

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog: "I don't really watch Fan Zone on Fox Soccer Channel. If I wanted to hear a biased announcer, I'd watch the New England Revolution telecasts."


MLS News

J Hutcherson of the US Soccer Players Assoc gives us their MLS "State Of The League" article.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle says the Dynamo has lost forward Joseph Ngwenya to Austrian club Karnten of Klagenfurt. Wow. The money must be great, cuz why else would you make this move? The club is new as of last summer. Before that they were know as ASKO Pasching.
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I need to clarify something from yesterday - Chicago acquired the "rights" to forward Andy Herron from Columbus, not the contract of the player. Herron is playing at Puntarenas as several people pointed out to me yesterday. Thanks everyone for the info.
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FIFA.com has an article on new Chivas USA midfielder Atiba Harris. They talk about his native country St Kitts as they begin World Cup qualifying.
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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch on his Covering The Crew blog says former USA youth goalkeeper Steve Sandbo is about to graduate from college, but will not pursue soccer. Instead he will go into banking. Mitchell calls it refreshing. I call it depressing. The guy doesn't feel he can make enough as a pro athlete in his sport of choice. Damn.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger writes about the start of NYRB preseason camp - Saturday! Is Juan Carlos Osorio ready?
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Ives Galarcep at the Herald News writes about the new Osorio Era in New York/Jersey.
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Metrofanatic has Q & A's with 2 new Red Bull draft picks - Eric Brunner and David Roth.
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Chicago defender Osei Telesford has been called into the Trinidad & Tobago squad that is playing Puerto Rico this weekend. Good for him.
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Dean McNulty (Jimmy's cousin) of the Toronto Sun says the new Toronto FC youth academy is being undermined by local club teams.
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The Deseret Morning News has an update on stadium construction in Salt Lake City. It is starting to look like a stadium!
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Tom Timmerman of the St Louis Post Dispatch with the latest expansion news from St Louis. The man behind the St Louis bid says he may have found the other investors he needs financially.
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MLS Rumor City

Austrian newspapers say Jozy Altidore has signed a new contract with Red Bull New York, and part of that deal has him joining their mother team in Salzburg in the summer of 09.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog reports that DC United has completed the deal to sign forward Franco Niell from Argentinos Juniors.
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Columbus is chasing a "Romanian midfielder".
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USA

Dan Loney at the US Soccer Players Assoc reviews the January camp for Team USA and looks ahead to the Feb 6 match v Mexico.
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USA U23 - The Olympic team is at a training camp in Bradenton FL.

U23 official blog.
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Kristian Dyer at Soccernet says that if American midfielder Benny Feilhaber has his way, he will stay at Derby County.
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Canada is holding a training camp in Florida right now. They have no imminent games of the schedule though. Here is the roster:
G:
Pat Onstad - Houston Dynamo
Greg Sutton - Toronto FC
Josh Wagenaar - unattached
D:
Adrian Cann - Vancouver Whitecaps
Paris Nakajima-Farran - Naestved
Marco Reda - unattached
M:
Dwayne De Rosario - Houston Dynamo
Kevin Harmse - Los Angeles Galaxy
Dejan Jakovic - University of Alabama Birmingham
Issey Nakajima-Farran - Nordsjaelland
Martin Nash - Vancouver Whitecaps
Chris Pozniak - San Jose Earthquakes
Antonio Ribeiro - Impact de Montreal
Tyler Rosenlund - Port Coquitlam
Adrian Serioux - FC Dallas
Chris Williams - unattached
F:
Rob Friend - Monchengladbach
Charles Gbeke - Impact de Montreal
Dave Simpson - Sparta Praha
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English League/Carling Cup - Semifinals
2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue Jan 22
Tottenham v Arsenal (1-1)
-Wed Jan 23
Everton v Chelsea (1-2)
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Copa Italia - Quarterfinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 23
Udinese v Catania
Sampdoria v Roma
Inter v Juventus
-Thu Jan 24
Lazio v Fiorentina
-2nd leg matches next week.
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Spanish Copa del Rey - Quarterfinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 23
Getafe v Mallorca
Valencia v Atletico Madrid
-Thu Jan 24
Racing Santander v Athletic Bilbao
Villareal v Barcelona
-2nd leg matches next week.
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Hungary has rehired Peter Varhidi as their national team coach. He was in charge in 06, was fired, and is now back again. Ah, the Billy Martin of Hungary.
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The Guardian looks at the tightening race for the Ligue 1 crown. It's no longer Lyon and Lyon alone.
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All we hear from England these days is what terrible tyrant owners Hicks-Gillet-Glazer are. But the Guardian says Randy Lerner of Cleveland who owns Aston Villa is a totally different kinda guy.
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The Times with an article on Milan's young prodigy Alexandre Pato. No real pressure on him to succeed.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Mexico & Club America goalkeeper Memo Ochoa.
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The latest EPL Talk audio podcast has interviews with former England boss Steve McClaren, former Liverpool & Lyon coach Gerard Houllier and long time European manager Jozef Venglos. Excellent stuff indeed.
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Real Zaragoza in Spain named Ander Garitano as their new head coach 8 days ago. Today, he quit.
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Tim Vickery of Sports Illustrated looks back at one of Brazil's greatest legends - Garrincha.
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African Cup of Nations
Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Sun Jan 20
Ghana 2-1 Guinea - Ghan goals by Asamoah Gyan(PK) & Sulley Muntari. Guin goal by Oumar Kalabane.
-Mon Jan 21
Namibia 1-5 Morocco - Nam goal by Brian Brendell. Mor goals by Soufiane Alloudi(3!!), Tarik Sektioui(PK) & Monsef Zerka.
Nigeria 0-1 Cote D’Ivoire - goal by Salomon Kalou.
Mali 1-0 Benin - goal by Frederic Kanoute(PK).
-Tue Jan 22
Cameroon 2-4 Egypt - Cam goals both by Samuel Eto'o. Egy goals by Mohamed Zidan(2) & Hosni Abd Rabou(2).
Zambia 3-0 Sudan - goals by James Chamanga, Jacob Mulengaa & Felix Katongo.
-Wed Jan 23
Tunisia v Senegal
South Africa v Angola
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From the Public Agenda newspaper in Ghana: Football Can Indeed Foster Peace & Development
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The Times with a feature on Ghana's undoubted leader Michael Essien.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the wide open play at the ACN. The players thrive on it.
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Paul Gardner of the New York Sun on the ACN and the problems that the European Soccer Elite have with it.
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise laments the fact that the ACN can barely be found in the USA. I agree.
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Reuters Soccer Blog says the ACN is a little too chaotic this time around. Too much success?