It Just Smells Different News

Forget Super Tuesday, THIS is Super Wednesday.


USA v Mexico

USA Men's official team blog.
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Rumor has it that Brad Davis is injured and will not be included in the 18 man game day roster.
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US Soccer has audio of interviews with Oguchi Onyewu, Drew Moor, Michael Bradley & Clint Dempsey after training on Tuesday.
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US Soccer has photos from training on Monday at Robertson Stadium (home of the Dynamo) in Houston.
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Match Previews:
-Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports: Glimpse of USA-Mexico rivalry's future
-Paul Oberjuerge of the LA Daily News: U.S.-Mexico exhibition anything but friendly
-Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune: El Tri will try, try again, US hopes to extend unbeaten streak to 10
-San Diego Union Tribune: The Streak
-Billy Witz of the LA Daily News: Argentina isn't Mexico for U.S. men's soccer
-Steven Goff of The Soccer Insider: The Players Speak
-Grahame Jones of the Los Angeles Times: Mexico's team feels at home in the U.S.
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Andrea Canales on the Sideline Views blog has a Q & A with USA U20 coach Thomas Rongen about the young fellas on the USA roster tonight.
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MLS News

Bob Luder of the Kansas City Star says Wizards keeper Kevin Hartman is in fighting shape.
-The Star is also reporting that KC may play a game or two this season at their old home - Arrowhead Stadium.
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Nick Firchau of the Chicago Southtown Star asks important questions of the Chicago Fire.
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Adam Smartschan of the Cape Cod Times says New England coach Steve Nicol is hoping to bring in more players very soon, and many other really good Rev's notes.
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Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail on the start to TFC's preseason.
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New York has resigned forward Grandpa Doe of Liberia.
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Dave Lifton of the US Soccer Players Assoc does a Q & A with DC right back Bryan Namoff.
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MLS Rumor City

Soccer By Ives is reporting that broadcaster Eric Wynalda has been cut loose completely from ESPN. That is quite the loss for them.
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Ives also reports that Reading were taking a serious look at signing Jozy Altidore in January. But in the end it just didn't happen.
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Luis Arroyave at the Red Card blog says Chicago defender Wilman Conde cut his long hair off. No more mullet, at least for now.
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Related Sports News

The New York Times with an article on Nike getting out of the Hockey business.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Feb 6
Dominica v Barbados
Belize v St Kitts & Nevis
Nicaragua v Netherlands Antilles
El Salvador v Anguilla
Turks & Caicos v St Lucia
Aruba v Antigua & Barbuda
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Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer heads down to Dominica to watch the
first leg match of the USA's first opponent in World Cup Qualifying.
-Lewis says that 2 USA assistants are in Dominica as well scouting -
John Hackworth & Tim Mulqueen.
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Lewis also talks to Barbados coach Eyre Sealy.
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Lewis then looks at football things in Dominica, and says its not going real well especially off the field.
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Other CONCACAF News

Jaime Cardenas on the Sideline Views blog says Guatemala coach Hernan Dario Gomez is the best coach in CONCACAF.
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Copa Libertadores

The final qualifying round.
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Feb 7
Chico v Audax Italiano

2nd leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Feb 5
Mineros 2-1 Arsenal - Arsenal adv 3-2 on agg.
Lanus 3-0 Olmedo - Lanus adv 3-1 on aggregate.
-Wed Feb 6
La Paz v Atlas (0-2)
Cerro Porteno v Cruzeiro (1-3)
-Thu Feb 7
Montevideo Wanderers v Cienciano (0-1)
-Tue Feb 12
Audax Italiano v Chico
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Arsenal & Lanus have now advanced to the group stage, which begins as early as next week for some groups.
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European News

Three from the Guardian:
-Ireland have a lot of work to do to find their magic again.
-Who are these guys that bought Derby County?
-France coach Raymond Domenech can't stop meddling even with his own players psyche's.
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European National Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Feb 6
Wales v Norway
Turkey v Sweden
Cyprus v Ukraine
Slovenia v Denmark
Israel v Romania
Hungary v Slovakia
Georgia v Latvia
Iceland v Armenia
Malta v Belarus
Macedonia v Serbia
Poland v Czech Republic
Greece v Finland
Moldova v Kazakhstan
Ireland v Brazil
Northern Ireland v Bulgaria
England v Switzerland
Austria v Germany
Croatia v Netherlands
Italy v Portugal
Spain v France
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World News

Dave Zirin in the Philadelphia Weekly with a story on Egyptian player Mohamed Aboutreika who is leading the charge on the field to publicize the plight of Gaza off the field.
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Forbes on the world's billionaire soccer team owners. If you think Phil Anschutz is rich, think again. With nice pictures too.
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Graham Jones of the LA Times with his world soccer news roundup - Corner Kicks.
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World Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Feb 6
USA v Mexico
Burundi v Rwanda
Venezuela v Haiti
Argentina v Guatemala
Honduras v Paraguay
Bolivia v Peru
Jamaica v Costa Rica
Uruguay v Colombia
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Asian World Cup Qualifiers

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Feb 6
S Korea 4-0 Turkmenistan
Australia 3-0 Qatar
Japan 4-1 Thailand
United Arab Emirates 2-0 Kuwait
Oman 0-1 Bahrain
Jordan 0-1 N Korea
Iraq 1-1 China
Iran 0-0 Syria
Lebanon v Uzbekistan
Saudi Arabia v Singapore
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African Cup of Nations

Semifinal Matches & Scores
-Thu Feb 7
Ivory Coast v Egypt
Ghana v Cameroon-Tunisia
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Paul Doyle of the Guardian writes about Egypt's "national treasure" Mohamed Shawky.
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Greg Lalas writes for the International Herald Tribune about the ACN Semifinals - Final four promise exciting contests.
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African website My Joy says an 82 year old has "offered his beautiful grand daughter" to Ghana's Junior Agogo after his fantastic performance in the tournament. That might be kinda sweet if it wasn't so horribly creepy.