Quick, Pick A Pony News

There is an insane article by Andrew Jennings about Jack Warner, FIFA & Dominica in the Glasgow Sunday Herald. You are gonna have to read this to believe it.
-Holy Moly! Jennings has another article from last month in the Sunday Herald about the mess in Antigua & Barbuda. This stuff is nuts.


MLS News

Real Salt Lake trialist, Indra Sahdan of Singapore, talks to the folks back home from The Electric New Paper about the way its gone for him so far. (thanks to Bart for this one)
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James Edward of the Deseret Morning News says RSL midfielder Kenny Cutler just keeps finding reasons for the team to keep him. Will he make it again this season?
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The Pueblo Chieftain with a story on their hometown boy Nat Borchers and his return to MLS from Norway.
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Kansas City team exec Robb Heineman writing on the teams Hillcrest Road blog with an update on their stadium plans. Two words in this statement jumped out at me: "rat abatement". WTF?
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Luis Bueno writing for MLSnet talks to Chivas USA's Mexican midfielder Francisco Mendoza. Many thought Mendoza would head to the mothership in Guadalajara this winter, but it did not happen.
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Billy Witz of the LA Daily News breaks the numbers down and shows just how many miles over the salary cap the LA Galaxy are. And even with all that money spent, they still don't look very good on paper. Defender Abel Xavier brags about how many of his old buddies want to come play for the Galaxy but that pesky salary cap just gets in the way of them all being way over paid.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times with a story on young Galaxy keeper Steve Cronin. The starting job is all his now that Joe Canon is off to San Jose.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe gives us a look at the New England roster as it is shaping up.
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Ives Galarcep of the Herald News says that if New York really wants Chicago defender Wilman Conde, then they need to be careful and not overpay for him. Do they have a choice? Chicago holds the cards for right now.
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The Hollister (California) Free Lance on the return of the San Jose Earthquakes to the Bay Area.
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The Houston Chronicle with today's update on potential stadium building in that city. Good reading.
-Bernardo Fallas who cover the Dynamo for the Chron gives his thoughts on the stadium subject. More good reading.
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MLS Preseason Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Feb 18
Chivas USA 1-0 DC at HDC
-Wed Feb 20
UANL Tigres (Mexico) v Dallas in Monterrey
Chicago v Toronto in Bradenton FL
Chivas USA v UC Riverside at HDC
Bermuda Select XI v New England in Bermuda
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Pan-Pacific Championship

From Honolulu Hawaii. The tournament's official page.
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The 4 teams:
Houston Dynamo
Gamba Osaka
Los Angeles Galaxy
Sydney FC
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Matches & Scores:
-Wed Feb 20
Los Angeles v Gamba - live at 10pm central time on ESPN Classic
Houston v Sydney - live at 12:30am central time on ESPN Classic
-Sat Feb 23 (actually early Sunday morning central time)
Winner v Winner - live at 12:30am central time on ESPN Classic
Loser v Loser - delayed at 2:30am central time on ESPN Classic
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet previews the tournament.
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Billy Witz of the LA Daily News on the roster the LA Galaxy have heading to Hawaii.
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The Honolulu Advertiser has high hopes that these games are not just friendlies.
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The HA on the arrival of Beckman.
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The Honolulu Star Bulletin talks to locals who say Beckman is big, but Brian Ching is bigger, to them.
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One story says "just over 10,000 tickets" have been sold so far. Is this success, failure or expected? My feeling is that those numbers are not gonna get it done.
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise writes about Beckman and the Galaxy star power going to Hawaii.
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MLS Rumor City

Luis Arroyave writes on The Red Card blog today that the Fire are expected to announce the signing of Polish striker Tomasz Frankowski at any time now. TF played for Tenerife of the Spanish 2nd Division on loan from English club Wolverhampton last season. During preseason last summer he suffered a knee injury and was released by Wolves. He has scored 157 goals for his club teams and 10 for Poland.
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Steven Goff at the Soccer Insider that KC could be pursuing Argentine forward Claudio Lopez.
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Ives Galarcep: "The Red Bulls are shopping Liberian forward Francis Doe, sources within MLS told the Herald News. Doe has been disappointing in training camp."
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Galarcep also writes on Soccer By Ives that New England is looking to sign a Designated Player!!! Sweet Holy Mary that is amazing, seeing as they are the cheapest bastards in the league.
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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch on his Cover The Crew blog says that the Crew will NOT be signing German Lars Ricken.
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Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail confirms that Portuguese midfielder Joao Pinto is joining TFC this week. But not with a deal in place, only a try out.
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The Brazilian forward Reinaldo from Queensland in Australia is Colorado's for the taking. Can they make it happen?
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US Soccer News

US Soccer has audio interviews with three MLS veterans after the Development Academy tournament in Texas last weekend. Dante Washington (Columbus Crew player), Giovanni Saverese (MetroStars player) & Dave Sarachan (Chicago Fire coach).
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Soccer In America

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger compares the US Open Cup to England's FA Cup. The only comparison I can see these days is that most teams don't take either tournament very seriously. Seriously!
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Americans In Europe

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle looks at why American players leave MLS for the greener pastures of European clubs.
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Game Action:
-Nevin Subotic - Mainz - started and went 90 minutes in a Monday game in which they knocked off the league leaders Monchengladbach 0-1 on the road. The win moves the team up to 2nd place and only 2 points out of first.
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Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Feb 19
Audax Italiano v Sportivo Luqueno
Chivas Guadalajara v San Jose
Coronel Bolognesi v Nacional
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Group Stage Standings
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European News

FIFA.com on the next batch of talented young Italian players.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times wonders why England has such a hard time raising goalkeepers.
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UEFA Champions League

Round of 16 - 1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Feb 19
Schalke v Porto
Liverpool v Inter
Roma v Real Madrid
Olympiacos v Chelsea
-Wed Feb 20
Arsenal v Milan - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Celtic v Barcelona - delayed at 4pm central on ESPN Classic
Lyon v Manchester United - delayed at 5pm central on Setanta
Fenerbahce v Sevilla - live at 1:45pm central on Setanta
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Kevin McCarra of the Guardian wonders if after 43 fairly miserable years if this could be Inter's time.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about 2 old CL warriors - Ryan Giggs & Paolo Maldini.
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World News

After only a couple of weeks in charge Javier Clemente has resigned as coach of Iran. The main reason was that the federation wanted him to live in Iran full time, and he did not want to do that. Shouldn't they have figured that out before hiring him?
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The Guardian had a story with a fairly dour look at football in India yesterday. Today they have a writer with the opposite viewpoint. (Note: yesterdays story was written by an Indian, today's by an Englishman.)
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The Reuters Soccer Blog with an article on brothers who play for different country's national teams. Like the de Guzman's of Canada & Holland.