Welcome To Gorgor's, May I Take Your Order News

I warned people not to get to uppity about the new USA shirts until we actually saw them on the field in action. So now that they have debuted, what do people think? I liked them. But then I liked the shiny blue with white pinstripes last year as well. I also liked the red "Don't Tread On Me shirts" too.

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The African football federation has admitted that, yes, they did not give Didier Drogba the continents Player of the Year award because he chose not to attend the ceremony. Instead he chose to stay with his team and prepare for the African Cup of Nations quarterfinals. As he should. What an embarrassment this all is. Are these people who run African football for real? They should all resign in shame.


MLS News

It's now official - Colorado introduces their new #10, Christian Gomez.
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Steve Davis at MLSnet gives us the 5 most important stories of the week.
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You ever wondered what all 6 LA Galaxy jerseys from throughout the 12 years of the team look like side-by-side? Cool.
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New England will open their season at home for the first time EVER. I hope it snows/sleets and is 34 degrees with howling winds! Not for the fans, but for the thick-heads who think MLS play through the winter months.
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The Boston Herald at the opening of New England preseason prep.
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Adam Smartschan of the Cape Cod Times checks in on the early days of New England training camp.
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Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star talks to TFC captain Jim Brennan about the new coach.
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Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail talks to TFC goalkeeper Greg Sutton about the serious concussions he has suffered and that kept him out of almost all of last season. Is he healthy?
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Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch reports that the Crew have 3 Brazilians and a Nigerian joining them for preseason tryouts. They are, from Brazil: defensive midfielder Sandro Jose, midfielder Alvaro & forward Guilherme. And from Nigeria, midfielder Emanuel Ekpu.
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Chicago will launch a year long 10th anniversary celebration. At some point they will announce their Team of the Decade. Many more details to follow. Here is the celebration logo.
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Andrea Canales of the US Players Assoc looks at some reasons American players from MLS are becoming a hotter commodity in the transfer market.
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Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated says MLS has missed the African boat.
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MLS Preseason Official Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Feb 8
Ventura County Fusion v Salt Lake - at Buena High in Ventura
-Sat Feb 9
Kansas City v Columbus - in Bradenton FL
Dallas v Centro America at Pizza Hut Park
Chicago v USA U17 - in Bradenton FL
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MLS Rumor City

Class VI report that Juergen Sommer will be named the Colorado Rapids Technical Director today. Great move. Former goalkeeper in MLS, overseas and with the USA.
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Dallas left back Chris Gbandi was officially transferred to Haugesund in Norway today.
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And Denilson has not re-signed with Dallas so he can go home to Brazil and play for Palmeira's.
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US Soccer News

Richard Snowden of Soccer365 talks about that distinct technical-ability edge that we still see Mexico holding over our USA boys. Unfortunately it is still pretty evident and could be the one thing that takes the longest to overcome.
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Ian Plenderleith of the US Soccer Players Assoc wonders about the left back position for Team USA.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet gives us 5 things we learned from USA v Mexico.
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Mike Woitalla of Soccer America looks at the interesting (and possibly shifting) make-up of soccer fans in America.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle wonders if the success at the turnstiles of the USA-Mexico game will help the city secure a World Cup qualifying match. To which I say: Sure it will, if Mexico wants to play a home game there.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer went to Dominica to cover the WC qualifier v Barbados. The winner will meet our USA in the next round. Here are some of Lewis's thoughts on the trip and teams. As usual he whines a little too much about things not being perfect.
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CONCACAF News

Jonathan de Guzman of Feyenoord has decided to play for Holland instead of his native Canada, at the international level.
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Copa Libertadores

The final qualifying round.
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Feb 7
Chico 4-3 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 1-0 Atlas -Atlas adv 2-1 on agg.
Cerro Porteno 2-3 Cruzeiro - Cruzeiro adv 6-3 on agg.
-Thu Feb 7
Montevideo Wanderers 0-0 Cienciano - Cienciano adv. on a 1-0 agg score.
-Tue Feb 12
Audax Italiano v Chico (3-4)
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Arsenal, Lanus, Atlas, Cruziero & Cienciano have advanced to the group stage, which begins as early as next week for some groups. One spot is left and it will be filled next Thursday the 12th. That same day a couple of Group Stage games will also kick off the tournament officially.
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American's In Europe

The Fulham team website has a Q & A with Brian McBride. They talks about his injury & recovery, the new manager, his future with the club, etc etc Good stuff. (thanks to BQ for this one)
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Ravi Ubha of Soccernet talks to Tim Howard about things at his club Everton.
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Steven Goff on his Soccer Insider blog says that Jonathan Spector was not called in for the Mexico game so that West Ham will let him play for the USA in Olympic qualifying in March. (thanks to all the readers who tipped me off to this)
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Big Euro Matches This Weekend

Scores & Matches:
-Sat Feb 9
Sevilla v Barcelona - Sevilla desperately need to get back in contention, while Barca need to keep the pressure on Real Madrid at the top.
PSV Eindhoven v Heerenveen - #1 v #3, and both teams are red hot
-Sun Feb 10
Manchester United v Manchester City - the good old Madchester derby.
Chelsea v Liverpool - with a win Chelsea can just about put the Liverpeople out of their misery for this season.
Bayern Munich v Werder Bremen - #1 v #2 in die Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke - the always powerful Ruhr derby!
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European News

I have been reading all these "the sky is falling" type stories surrounding the Premierships proposed plan to play league games in other countries around the world. Most of them center around phrases like "it destroyed the founding principles, the traditions and the roots of the game." What a bunch of crap. That stuff went out the window in 1995 when the Premier League was created. Please!
-The Reuters Soccer Blog seems to have it just about right, in my opinion.
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Jason Burt of the Independent talks to several England star players about their first impressions of playing for new coach Fabio Capello.
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The Telegraph talks to England keeper David James who says Don Fabio revealed the starters to his team in an oddly tense game show style just 2 hours before game time. Hilarious!
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Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated with the newest World Club Power Rankings. Only slight changes near the top.
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African Cup of Nations

Final Matches & Score:
-Sun Feb 10
Cameroon v Egypt
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All the pundits wanted to see Ghana v Ivory Coast in the Final. What they really wanted was to see 2 big time players from the Premiership battle it out. They wanted Drogba v Essien. It was all too predictable. They wanted to see what they knew. They don't know Egypt at all. They don't know Cameroon outside of Samuel Eto'o at all. And now we have the two best teams standing toe to toe at the end. And guess what? They came out of the same group. They actually played each other in the first group stage match. And Egypt wiped them out 4-2. So you know Cameroon wants to show that was an aberration. And Egypt wants to show that they can win it outside their home country. Egypt are the defending champs you know. I bet you didn't know that. So here we go. See ya Sunday.
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And amid all the talk of Chelsea players facing off for the title, it's almost comical that they are all headed back to their clubs instead.
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Kickoff magazine says that Ghana blame the referee for their loss. That is a sad way to go out.
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Kickoff was very impressed with Egypt's big win.
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Cameroon defender Andre Bikey will miss the final due to a Red Card suspension in the semifinal.
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Paul Doyle of the Guardian gives us a look at Cameroon v Egypt.
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Reuters gives us a little deeper look at the two finalists - Cameroon - and - Egypt.
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World Soccer has a Q & A with Ivory Coast and Arsenal defender Kolo Toure. Via Sports Illustrated.
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Duleep Allirajah of Spiked online magazine tells us the story of how he found himself watching the ACN, and loving it. (thanks to Dannah for this one)
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Brian Oliver of the Guardian wonders what condition players will be in when they return to their clubs.
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Greg Lalas on the New York Times Goal blog says almost all the mystery is gone about players from Africa these days. They are well known, respected, and big bucks are spent on them.