Frankly Enjoying The Hell Out Of It News

I noticed that after the Colorado v LA game on FSC they had a live interview with MLS honcho Don Garber and he made special note of the big write in vote for Seattle to call their team the Sounders. Interesting. Maybe they will listen to the fans after all.

~and~

Anyone else saddened by what a terrible job Alexi Lalas has done now as GM at 3 different teams. And more disturbing, he seems to be getting progressively worse the longer he does it.


MLS First Kick - This Weekend!

Matches & Scores:
Columbus 2-0 Toronto - Colu goals by Adam Moffat & Alejandro Moreno.
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
-attendance: 13,843
Salt Lake 1-1 Chicago - SL goal by Bakary Soumare(OG). Chic goal by Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret Morning News.
-attendance: 20,272
New England 3-0 Houston - NE goals by Steve Ralston, Adam Christman & Sainey Nyassi.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
-attendance: 11,116
Kansas City 2-0 DC - KC goals by Ivan Trujillo & Claudio Lopez.
Match report by Bob Luder of the Kansas City Star.
-attendance: 10,385
Colorado 4-0 Los Angeles - Colo goals by Terry Cooke, Christian Gomez(PK), Omar Cummings & Colin Clark.
Match report from the Rocky Mountain News.
-attendance: 18,713
Dallas 1-1 Chivas USA - Dal goal by Juan Toja. Chiv goal by Maykel Galindo.
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
-attendance: 17,540
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Red Cards:
-Abel Xavier - Los Angeles - 2 Yellow Cards, one for dissent and a second for abusive behavior.
-Ciaran O'Brien - Colorado - straight Red Card for ugly foul on Carlos Ruiz.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

du Nord MLS Player Of The Week

Sainey Nyassi
Midfielder from the New England Revolution!
This right sided maniac spent an entire 90 minutes not going box to box, but endline to endline. As Company Flow once said a true "End to End Burner."
And it was not just speed. It was quality. His defense was driving Cory Ashe & Wade Barrett nuts. His passing was simple when it had to be, and creative when it needed to be. He fed some fantastic passes in to the forwards who did damage with the chances.
Then Nyassi capped the whole affair with monster dash with the ball from the midfield stripe all the way into the box, pulled a beautiful stutter step to throw off the defender Patrick Ianni, then crushed a shot to the upper near post to beat a very good goalkeeper in Pat Onstad. Game Over!
See the goal here from MLSnet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with post game notes on is Red Card blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Deseret Morning News with a report on the game in Salt Lake for a Chicago perspective.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLORADO RAPIDS

So rookie Ciaran O'Brien comes on late in the game for his debut and what is the first thing he does? Cracks down LA forward Carlos Ruiz was a stupid amateur tackle that even a master thespian like Ruiz can't make look worse than it was. Nice job kid, now sit down for a long long while and think about how stupid that was.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Very good post game notes by our man George Tanner at the Rocky Mountain News blog FC Rocky.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Speaking of Denver, I have to give a shout out to our old hero Lionel Bienvenue who used to host that incredible 2 hours Fox Sports World Premiership review show and is not a local sportscaster in Denver!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rapids Class VI blog asks 6 questions (natch) of coach Fernando Clavijo post game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Will Hesmer saved a PK by Collin Samuel of Toronto.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The team has officially signed Brazilian forward Guilherme So from the club Gremio Esportivo Brasil.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch loved the atmosphere and action at Crew Stadium for opening day.
-And a good note from Hunter on his blog about season 13 of MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch on his Covering The Crew blog with more notes from the match. Has links to some other cool stuff too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Reserve team keeper Josh Lambo took a knee to the face in a game this weekend and has a concussion and broken jaw to deal with. What does this do to the loan of backup keeper Ray Burse to Portland?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC Dallas Updates with some post Chivas game notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

Fred did not start, being rested for the Champions Cup on Tuesday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post with his match report.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Washington Times has a match report.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Craig Waibel did not play due to a muscle strain.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated has some advice for the champs after week 1.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Houston Chronicle with a match report.
-Post game notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

USA Today has a great Q & A with Jimmy Conrad about a wide variety of topics.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

At the end of their miserable first game, Colorado youngster Ciaran O'Brien chopped down Carlos Ruiz and got a Red Card for his efforts. But the bigger question is how bad was Pescadito hurt. He has been known to fake it, but this looked bad. Is he hurt? They say its a knee ligament sprain. Will he miss games? We shall see.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno on the Sideline Views blog tells us what Abel Xavier had to say about the referee after the game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Personally I thought it was Xavier that the disgrace. He acted like a spoiled little brat, and then did it all again a few minutes later to get a Red Card. That really helps the team! Who knows, sitting his old slow ass on the bench might help.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones of the LA Times with a match report from Denver. (Nice to see the paper allowing him to travel to a road game again.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bueno at the Press Enterprise with a match report.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports looks at what its gonna take to fix LA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Simon Kuper at the Financial Times calls David Blankem second rate.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Taylor Twellman did not play due to a leg muscle strain of some sort.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Ralston hit the ground hard late in the game and suffered a dislocated shoulder. He will miss several weeks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald with a match report, and an article on the Rev's young players who made such a great impact.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with plenty of post game notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News with a match report.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Biglin also sings the praises of one of the two young Gambian players who were outstanding for the Rev's in Week 1 - Sainey Nyassi.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

No game for them on opening weekend. They start their season next week hosting Columbus.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jozy Altidore writing for the New York Times Goal blog says his dream right now is MLS Cup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

Nice size crowd, but the football lines on the field were an embarrassment!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News rates the Salt Lake players on the papers soccer blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Edward also has Monday morning reactions to the game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Other articles from the Deseret:
-MLS tells refs to let 'em play
-Dominating midfielders a bright spot
-Tie, tie again? Real needs to kick this habit — and fast
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Salt Lake Tribune with a match report.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Trib also feels the Real defense actually does look improved.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Daily Utah Chronicle saw the opening game as being much rougher than before.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

No game this past weekend. Start their season .
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

San Jose shipped midfielder Chris Pozniak to Chivas USA in exchange for forward John Cunliffe. Both are 2nd year pro's.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Toronto had claims for a goal ignored as Jim Brennan took a shot that some believe crossed the line.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe and Mail with a match report.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jimmy McNulty of the Toronto Sun with a match report.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

McNulty (where's Bunk?) writes about a couple of expected TFC starters not in the first 11.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nigel Reed at the CBC sees the sputters in that TFC Penalty Kick, and in several other things they did too. That was ugly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ben Knight of the Globe & Mail blog On Soccer traveled on a bus to Cowtown with TFC supporters and here is part 1 of his report.
-By the way the chant the TFC fans used "We don't pay for health care" is very funny, but countries with socialized medicine also rarely fund research into amazing medical breakthroughs. (Yeah, I know this is overly simplistic and I am gonna get crap for writing that, but I don't care, you know I'm right.) Sorry didn't mean to hijack Knight's great article!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star on the red invasion.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The National Post of Canada has a story on the traveling fans too.
-I found this to be a very interesting quote from a TFC fan after the game: "We don't want this to become like it is England. I am ashamed to be Canadian today."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Toronto Star ran a Q & A with TFC coach John Carver on Saturday, and it gives us a little insight on him as a person.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CNews in Canada even tells us that a witch tried to help TFC get off on the right foot this season. Oops.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

MLS has named Colorado midfielder Terry Cooke as the Player Of The Week. While he was very good in his teams 4-0 dismantling of LA, he was not as good as our pick (see above).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at Soccernet has "10 Things" from Week 1. Excellent observations.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul Gardner at Soccer America's Soccer Talk blog gives us his thoughts on the first weekend of games.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer with his Week 1 recap.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jen Chang at Soccernet gives us his impressions from Week 1.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com with is roundup of Week 1 matches.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones of the LA Times with notes on the opening weekend games.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Remember a couple years back when Bruno Marioni tore up the Mexican finals with Necaxa and then we heard lots of stories about Houston trying to sign him. Well, there wasn't much to that. But Marioni is still tearing it up in Mexico, these days for Atlas and the new rumor has Chivas USA chasing after him. We shall see. Many players in the Mexican league have used MLS teams lately to get better deals in their current league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After i cried for MLS to chase after both Ronaldinho & Henry from Barcelona immediately, I got a couple of interesting emails saying that Seattle and Drew Carrey were seriously on the trail of the man they call Thierry. Nice idea.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Stadium Talk

The Salt Lake Tribune with the latest news on the marketing of the new RSL stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Mar 28
Portland (USL1D) 1-2 San Jose in Portland, OR at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex
Carolina (USL1D) 0-1 New York in Cary, NC at the Wake Med Soccer Park
-Tue Apr 8
San Luis (FMF) v Chicago in Mexcali, Mexico at Estadio Casas GEO
-Tue May 13
Vancouver (USL1D) v Los Angeles in Edmonton, Alberta at Commonwealth Stadium
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Worst news first, the 2 Americans at Derby, Eddie Lewis and Benny Feilhaber, have officially been relegated from the Premiership. Even sadder news is that no team had ever been sent down from that league in the month of March before. Oh that hurts.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Great news next, Soccer By Ives is reporting that we may yet see Brian McBride in a USA shirt again - at the Olympics.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How'd their recent matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - was not on the bench for his teams 4-1 home win over Pacos de Ferreira.
-Bryan Arguez - Hertha Berlin - did not dress for a 2-1 loss at Energie Cottbus.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - lost at home 1-2 to Carl Zeiss Jena
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - unused sub in a 2-2 draw at Derby. They seem doomed to relegation.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - went the distance but lost at home 2-4 to Ajax.
-Adin Brown - Aalesund - played 90 minutes but lost 1-0 at Valerenga to start the season.
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - at home against Hammarby on Monday.
-Dan Califf - Aalborg - started and played the whole of a 0-1 road win over Brondby. DC got himself another Yellow Card.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the full 90 in a 0-0 home draw with Stuttgart.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - on the bench but did not play in a 0-0 home tie with Blackburn.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - at Ljungskile Monday.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - unused sub in a 2-2 draw at Derby. They seem doomed to relegation.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - started and lasted 79 minutes of a 3-0 beat down at Hull.
-Joe Enochs - Osnabruck - play at home against Kaiserslautern on Monday.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - on the bench but did not play in a 2-2 home tie with Fulham.
-Gabriel Ferrari - Sampdoria - dressed but did not get to play in a 0-2 road win at Empoli.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - all 90 minutes as always in a 0-0 road tie at Reading.
-Cory Gibbs - Charlton - did not dress for the teams 2-3 loss at Wolverhampton.
-Joshua Grenier - Koblenz - lost 1-0 at Monchengladbach.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went all 90 in a 0-0 home draw with Blackburn. Got himself a Yellow Card.
-Tally Hall - Esbjerg - won at Aarhus 0-1
-Tim Howard - Everton - went start to finish as always, but lost 1-0 at Liverpoo.
-Nate Jaqua - Rheindorf Altach - went the distance and scored yet again in a 2-0 home win over Mattersburg.
-Will John - Randers - did not dress for the teams 1-0 loss at Horsens.
-Eddie Johnson - Fulham - came on as a 81st minute sub in a 2-2 draw at Derby. They seem doomed to relegation.
-Kasey Keller - Fulham - started and went 90 in a 2-2 draw at Derby. They seem doomed to relegation.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - played all 90 in a 2-2 home tie with Fulham.
-Clint Mathis - Ergotolis - came on in the 74th minute of a 2-1 home win over Levadiakos, who they are battling (and currently conquering) for the last relegation spot.
-Brian McBride - Fulham - started and went 90 in a 2-2 draw at Derby. They seem doomed to relegation.
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - a 64th minute sub in a 1-0 loss at Horsens.
-Pat Noonan - Aalesunds - stayed on the bench as the team lost 1-0 at Valerenga.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played the full match as they went on the road beat 0-1 Mechelen.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - came on in the 56th minute of a 0-1 home loss to Wolfsburg.
-Matt Pickens - Queens Park Rangers - on the bench for a 0-0 tie game at Ipswich.
-Troy Perkins - Valerenga - debuted with a shut out as they beat Aalesund 1-0 at home.
-Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - play at Osnabruck on Monday.
-Robbie Russell - Viborg - at home against Copenhagen Monday.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - out injured as team draw 1-1 at home against Stoke.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - got another start and played all 90, but lost 2-1 at Sunderland.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - played the entire match as the team drew 3-3 at Erzgebirge Aue.
-Danny Szetela - Brescia - came on as a sub in the 56th minute of a 1-0 home win over Spezia.
-Brian Waltrip - Molde - on the bench as the team drew 0-0 with Stabaek at home.
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - did not dress for a 4-2 loss at Brann.
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - played the entirety of a 0-1 home loss to Esbjerg.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - did not play as the team lost at home 1-2 to Carl Zeiss Jena.
-Sal Zizzo - Hannover - did not dress for a 0-0 home draw with Stuttgart.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

2nd leg Qualifier Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Sun Mar 30
British Virgin Islands 2-2 Bahamas - series tied 3-3 on agg, but Bahamas win the away goals tie breaker. The will play Jamaica in the next round.
Cayman Islands 1-3 Bermuda - Berm adv 4-2 on agg. They will play Trinidad & Tobago in the next round.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF Champions Cup

Semifinals - 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 1
Pachuca v DC - live at 9pm on FSC
-Wed Apr 2
Houston v Suprissa - live at 9pm on FSC
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

So Hugo Sanchez has been bounced as Mexicoach, and Jesus "Chucho" Ramirez (that's a great sounding nickname - what's it mean?) has taken the helm until a permanent coach can be found. I hear Bruce Arena is available!!!!!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Guadalajara Chivas finally lost a game this season after 12 rounds (they play 17). Necaxa were 0-1 winners even with just 10 men for almost the entire 2nd half.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South American News

FIFA.com has a Q & A with Sebastian Abreau. He may be a hell raiser, but he is River Plate & Uruguay's beloved hell raiser.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Apr 1
Santos v San Jose
Universidad Catolica v Dep Univ San Martin
Bamin Real Potosi v Caracas
-Apr 2
America v River Plate
Fluminense v Libertad
Sao Paulo v Sportivo Luqueno
Lanus v Estudiantes
-Apr 3
Atletico Nacional v Audax Italiano
Nacional v Coronel Bolognesi
Cruzeiro v San Lorenzo
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

I guess all you have to do is lose - German Berti Vogts was a terrible coach at Scotland, followed it up by being just as bad for Nigeria, and will now get the job of building Azerbaijan. Oh goody, more crappy football.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

David James at the Guardian tells how he approaches Penalties for Portsmouth & England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The excellent Paul Doyle of the Guardian on the bumbling & fumbling going on with Sven Gore Erickson and his "mighty" Manchester City. They look like England out there!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England coach Fabio Capello had hoped that talk of him being involved in some shady financial dealing would go away after he talked to prosecutors a month or so ago. But things appear to have actually gotten worse. No real details yet on what this is all about, but it's not over.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Moron's brought Serie A to yet another low water mark as Parma fans attacked Juventus fans before the game, only to see a Parma fan run over by a bus and killed. Further stories say this fan had been banned for 3 years from Parma games due to his previous violence, and if this is true then why are some papers in Italy actually mourning this guy. Don't get me wrong, I understand being sad for him as a human being and a member of someone's family. But this has gone way too far, and something real, not minor must be done, cuz some people still have not gotten the message. The Parma v Juve game was postponed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian tells us about the horrible death and the rest of Italian top flight football weekend results.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Observer has an interview with Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Raphael Honigstein also of the Guardian on Germany's gamblers, divers and low-blow artists.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And Sid Lowe of the Guardian on the miracle of Villarreal in La Liga.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Glasgow Sunday Herald looks at the youth Academy of Sporting Clube de Portugal aka Sporting.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Football Italia's Week 31 Serie A roundup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters is reporting that Porto has been accused of match fixing in the 03/04 season. Their coach was Jose Mourinho. And they won the Champions League that season. Uh oh.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League

Quarterfinals - 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 1
Roma v Manchester United - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Schalke v Barcelona - live at 1:30pm central on Setanta & delayed at 4pm central on ESPN Classic
-Wed Apr 2
Arsenal v Liverpool - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Fenerbahce v Chelsea - live at 1:30pm central on Setanta & delayed at 4pm central on ESPN Classic
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Francesco Totti is out of the game with a quad injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

La Gazzetta says Roma want victory, not revenge.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro League Cup Competitions

Final of France's Coupe de la Ligue:
-Sat Mar 29
Paris Saint Germain 2-1 Lens
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There is a chance that PSG could win this Cup and be relegated from Ligue Un in the same season. They currently sit 2nd from the bottom. Football can be so bizarre like that.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro Club Matches This Week

Matches & Scores:
Rangers 1-0 Celtic - the top dogs and old Firm. Rangers extend their lead at the top to 6.
Villarreal 3-0 Atletico Madrid - Villa's win and a Barca loss bump Villa into 2nd place!!!
Lazio 1-1 Inter - Luckily for Inter, Roma could only get the same 1-1 tie game at Cagliari and the lead stays at 4.
Bordeaux 2-1 Nancy Lorraine - Bordeaux are doing their best to secure 2nd.
Besiktas 1-2 Fenerbahce - the road team get the win and secure sole possession of the top spot.
AEK Athens 4-0 Olympiacos - woooohooo, #3 stuff #1 and climb within points with 3 rounds left, and #2 Panathanaikos are now just 1 point from the leaders!
Derby 2-2 Fulham - the Death derby - and they both died. I see no chance for Fulham now!
Liverpool 1-0 Everton - the Merseyside derby, and Liverpool gets 4th place aka the last Champions League spot.
Real Madrid 3-1 Sevilla - RM win & got help with Barca losing and now lead Villarreal by 6 points at the top.
Anderlecht 3-1 Cercle Brugge - Ander use the win to jump up to 2nd place.

ADIOS! AMIGO!

After a rocky 15 months in charge, Mexico has given national team coach Hugo Sanchez the boot. Adios muchcacho!

We Cover Most Regions News

See ya'll in KC on Saturday! I can't wait to watch some live game action!

~and~

If you have Dish Network, Direct TV, or On Demand cable access, then you can watch the MLS Direct Kick package free this weekend. All the games live and direct to you!! But really you should just go buy it. It's an amazing value for $80.

~and~

SF at the Offside Rules gives us our first look at the new MLS TV ad campaign.

~and~

Nice hair dude: Kevin Hartman meet Ed Grimley.


MLS First Kick - This Weekend!

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 29
Columbus v Toronto - 3pm central on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v Chicago - 5pm central on Direct Kick
New England v Houston - 6:30pm central on FSC
Kansas City v DC - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Colorado v Los Angeles - 8:30pm central on FSC
-Sun Apr 30
Dallas v Chivas USA - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Note: for whatever reason both San Jose and New York do not play this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune takes a look at the Fire season ahead.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chicago's Daily Herald on Fire forward Chad Barrett who is one of those players who really needs to have a good season, for the sake of his career.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Firchau of Chicago's Southtown Star with an article on new(?) coach Denis Hamlett. He has been interim head coach twice before this.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun Times also writes about the new boss, Hamlett.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ziehm also writes about the mess the team is having with defender Wilman Conde who wants out.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CD CHIVAS USA

Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated has a big story on forward Maykel Galindo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chivas will be without captain Claudio Suarez against Dallas. His father has passed away and the Emperor has returned to Mexico to be with his family. RIP Senor Suarez, and our best thoughts to Claudio and his family.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLORADO RAPIDS

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports with an article on Colorado & Senegal goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch with a story on the biggest Crew talent, Guillermo Barros Schelotto.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mitchell also gives us his list of the best possible starting lineup for the Crew.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And Mitchell talks to Crew Technical Director Brian Bliss who just returned from a scouting trip to Honduras.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Buzz Carrick at 3rd Degree takes in a Dallas practice this week and reports back.
-Forward Ricardinho is definitely out this weekend due to an ankle injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Drew Moor & Arturo Alvarez of Dallas are both out serving 1 game suspensions from the end of last season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner says DC wants to be the top team in the whole hemisphere.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports takes a gaze at DC's Latin American corps. Wouldn't it be cool if they all spoke in Latin to each other on the field.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rod Dyachenko will miss the first DC game of the season due to a Red Card suspension from the end of last season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Houston midfielder Ricardo Clark will start the season with 2 games still to be served on his 9 game ban for kicking Carlos Ruiz last year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

The Kansas City Star invites you to "Meet the 2008 Wizards".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dos Mundos in KC has an article on the teams new Colombian forward Ian Trujillo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Soccernet's Press Pass has a Q & A with Darnell Bongham.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeffrey Marcus of the New York Times Goal blog with an article on El Pescado, Carlos Ruiz.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New Brazilian midfielder Alvaro Pires aka The Buffalo received his work visa and is all set to go for opening day.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with a nice big article on New England star defender Michael Parkhurst.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy at the Boston Herald previews New England's season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

McCarthy also writes about Rev's forward Taylor Twellman and how he is dealing with not getting his transfer to England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The winner of the season series between Columbus and Toronto will be awarded the Trillium Cup. Trillium, is that the name of those fuzzball characters that multiplied really fast on the original Star Trek show?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News looks at the hard nosed players RSL accrued this offseason.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Salt Lake Tribune with an article on RSL's talented youngsters.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And the SLT has a season preview of the team too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Daily Utah Chronicle previews Real's new season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And The DUC also previews this weekends opening game v Chicago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail's On Soccer blog is riding with TFC fans in the buses headed to Columbus for Saturday. His Monday articles should be fantastic. He is saying upwards of 2500 are making the trek.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star previews TFC's season with this haunting headline: "TFC kicks off with new coach and that's about it" Ouch. He writes that they have added 2 new senior roster players to that crappy team!!! TWO! Could that be right? What is going on? Can you imagine Chivas USA standing put with that horror team they had in year 1. Isaac Romo anyone?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jimmy McNulty of the Toronto Sun with pretty much the same tale of stale on the TFC roster.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Sun also has an article on forward Jeff Cunningham who had a throw away season for the most part last year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The winner of the season series between Toronto and Columbus will be awarded the Trillium Cup. Trillium, is that the toxic chemical element used to strengthen metal and causes cancer if you breathe too much of it in?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The mayors of Toronto & Columbus also have a bet where the loser has to wear the winning teams jersey to work one day.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet gives us previews of all 6 games this weekend and also writes about the new foreigner players in the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet with a full MLS season preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccernet gives us their preseason Power Rankings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Like a bolt of beautiful sunlight Shaka Hislop debut's on the pages of the Guardian with a MLS season preview. Yessir!.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe on the new group of owners coming into the league - they have a lot of moolah.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dell'apa also previews the season, team by team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Boston Herald also previews the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fox Soccer Channel with separate Eastern Conference - and - Western Conference previews.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune hands out the 5 big post season awards before we've even played a minute.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives predicts the league award winners too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch with the 5 biggest issues from the league this year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a league preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com highlights the key/crucial games on the schedule this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Staff at Goal.com make their season predictions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com gives us Week One match-by-match previews.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com also has an article by player Kelly Gray who has signed with Colorado. Who knew that had happened? I pay close attention and I never saw that anywhere. Anyway, he writes his column again at Goal.com.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones of the LA Times draws comparisons between MLS and the EPL.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jonesy also talks to MLS chieftain Donny G about the near future for the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

David Keyes at the Culture of Soccer gives us his 2008 season preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated looks at the results so far from the Designated Player rule.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America looks at the former MLS players that are slowly but surely taking over the running of the leagues teams.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On Beau Dure's blog The Netminder he links to a really cool MLS world map showing the native countries of every player in the league! Awesome.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Pastorino at the US National Team Players Assoc blog names a coach and first 11 players that he is looking forward to watching this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post with separate Western and Eastern Conference previews, and then an overall look at the growing importance of the international market to the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Expansion News

Several people have alerted me to the fact that the 3 name choice being put to the public by the new team in Seattle are not the ONLY choices. You can also write in a name. The official candidates are Seattle FC, Seattle Alliance & Seattle Republic. What kinda choices are those? Of course the big scuttlebutt is that everyone should do the write in vote and go with the old traditional Sounders name. I can live with that or not. (thanks to everyone who tipped me off to this)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Gammage of the Philadelphia Inquirer gets us an update from Philly on season ticket sale (OVER 3400 ALREADY!) and stadium etc etc.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Mar 28
Portland (USL1D) v San Jose in Portland, OR at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex
Carolina (USL1D) v New York in Cary, NC at the Wake Med Soccer Park
-Tue Apr 8
San Luis (FMF) v Chicago in Mexcali, Mexico at Estadio Casas GEO
-Tue May 13
Vancouver (USL1) v Los Angeles in Edmonton, Alberta at Commonwealth Stadium
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

San Jose & New York are playing exhibition games on Friday because they don't have an opening weekend game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division & PDL News

Here is a snap shot of the new Minnesota Thunder shirt for 2008. From that small picture it looks pretty sharp. Here is another picture, this time of a player in the full uniform. See that pic and more at Blue Sky Soccer thanks to BQ.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rochester has hired former player Darren Tilley as their new coach replacing the Salty Sea Captain Lawrie Calloway.
-The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle has a story on his first day on the job.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

Sports Illustrated has launched a new website called SI Vault where you can go back and see all the articles and picture etc that hey have published since day one in 1954. Let's go find those cool and very rare old soccer stories.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Freddy Adu's team Benfica has officially approached Manchester United assistant coach Carlos Queiroz about becoming their next head man.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The 14 team Norwegian Tippeligaen kicks off this weekend with 5 Americans taking to the fields:
-Brian West at Fredrickstad
-Troy Perkins at Valerenga
-Aidn Brown & Pat Noonan at Aalesund
-Brain Waltrip at Molde (newly promoted)

And we also have:
-Clarence Goodson at Start in the Norwegian Adeccoligaen (2nd Division).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The 16 (up from 14) Swedish league Allsvenskan starts this weekend too, and 3 Americans are involved there:
-Colin Burns at Ljungskile
-Charlie Davies at Hammarby
-Tally Hall at Esbjerg
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

2nd leg Qualifier Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Sun Mar 30
British Virgin Islands v Bahamas (1-1)
Cayman Islands v Bermuda (1-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ben Knight from the Toronto Globe & Mail On Soccer blog asks what Canada was doing playing a game in the snows of Estonia as they prepare to take on teams from Central America in qualifiers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

Only 3 more days until the Mexican federation honchos meet and decide the near future fate of coach Hugo Sanchez.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South American News

4 players from Peru including top talents Jefferson Farfan & Claudio Pizarro have been banned from the national team for 18 months for unspecified disciplinary reasons.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Mar 25
Coronel Bolognesi 0-0 Cienciano
Maracaibo 1-1 Atlas - Mar goal by Dario Figueroa(PK). Atl goal by Bruno Marioni
San Lorenzo 1-0 Bamin Real Potosi - SL goal by Adrian Gonzalez
-Mar 26
Liga Dep Univ Quito 6-1 Arsenal - LDUQ goals by Patricio Urrutia, Damian Manso, Luis Bolanos (2), Claudio Bieler & Alfonso Obregon. Ars goal by Luciano Leguizamon.
River Plate 2-0 Universidad Catolica - RP goals by Radamel Falcao Garcia & Sebastian Abreu.
Dep Univ San Martin 1-0 America - DUSM goal by Mario Leguizamon.
-Mar 27
Cucuta Deportivo 1-0 Chivas Guadalajara - Cuc goal by Matias Urbano.
Boca Juniors 4-3 Colo Colo - BJ goals by Martin Palermo, Leandro Gracian, Rodrigo Palacio & Neri Cardozo. CC goals by Gustavo Biscayzacu (2) & Rodolfo Moya.
Danubio 2-0 Deportivo Cuenca - Dan goals by Damian Malrrechaufe & Alejandro Lembo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

There is a story in every English publication today about the two owners of Liverpool having a serious difference on opinion on their future with the team. I am going to link to any, cuz there are so many and they all say the same things we have been reading for weeks if not months on end.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

With only four games remaining PSV can win the Eredivisie title for the 4th straight year this weekend. If they beat NEC Nijmegen on the road and Ajax lose to Heerenveen on the road, it's all over.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Everton has lost their best player Tim Cahill for the rest of the Premiership season due to a broken metatarsal bone (in the foot). This is becoming THE soccer injury isn't it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Juventus & Italy goalkeeper Gigi Buffon is going to sit out the rest of the Serie A season as soon as Juve clinch a Champions League spot. He has a bad back and wants to be rested for the Euro championship this summer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian wonders, if Rangers could only focus on one of the league title or the UEFA Cup, which one should get the nod.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters blog ponders a big question - is Ronaldinho done at Barcelona?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Telegraph has a great article on a Canadian doctor who has a serious Everton Fixation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Lawton at the Independent says that the one player England coach Capello most needs to get untracked for the national team to succeed is Wayne Rooney.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro League Cup Competitions

Final of France's Coupe de la Ligue:
-Sat Mar 29
Paris Saint Germain v Lens
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro Club Matches This Week

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 29
Rangers v Celtic - the top dogs and old Firm. If Celtic win they will be tied at #1.
Villarreal v Atletico Madrid - #3 hosts #4!
Lazio v Inter - Will Roma's hated neighbors help them get closer to Inter at the top?
Bordeaux v Nancy Lorraine - #2 v #3, with first place nearly out of reach for either.
Besiktas v Fenerbahce - #4 v #1 in Turkey, but only 2 points separate them.
AEK Athens v Olympiacos - #3 (five points back) hosts #1 with only 4 rounds left to play
Derby v Fulham - the Death derby - the two worst team in England go to battle.
-Sun Mar 30
Liverpool v Everton - the Merseyside derby, and the winner gets 4th place aka the last Champions League spot.
Real Madrid v Sevilla - RM desperately need to win to stay on top, while Sev need to get into the Champions League spots for next year.
Anderlecht v Cercle Brugge - the old traditional powerhouse v the young upstarts while both try to stay close to the leaders.

Calm Down Dork News

For the 2nd season running I have been asked by George Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News blog FC Rocky to make my MLS season predictions. I join with fellow geniuses in make believe. I am honored to contribute, read em and weep.

~and~

Elisabeth Loisel, coach of Chinese women's team, was fired via E-mail! Cold.


Team USA

-Wed Mar 26
Polska 0-3 USA - USA goals by Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu & Eddie Lewis.
Match report from US Soccer
Match report by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Match report from American Soccer Daily.
Post game analysis and player ratings by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Player ratings by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Quotes by coach and players from US Soccer.
Game photos from US Soccer.
Behind the scenes video from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

du Nord Three Stars of the Match:
3 Ricardo Clark & Michael Bradley - seriously stuffed and dismantled the Polish attack. It's never pretty when they are effective, but Poland had no chance to get into any rhythm with the ball. Impressive defensively.
2 Carlos Bocanegra - captained the team well, played centerback with a lot of poise and helped cover others mistakes (both Onyewu & Pearce got caught), not to mention scoring the game winning goal.
1 Landon Donovan - deadly accurate on his free and corner kicks like we have rarely seen from him (is he taking lessons from DB?), set up the first two goals and was all over the field trying to add more to it. Would have been a perfect game if his shot on a break away had been 1 foot to the left.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Team USA official blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Now that we have seen the light black uniforms on the field, what do you think? I like them.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS First Kick

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 29
Columbus v Toronto - 3pm central on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v Chicago - 5pm central on Direct Kick
New England v Houston - 6:30pm central on FSC
Kansas City v DC - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Colorado v Los Angeles - 8:30pm central on FSC
-Sun Apr 30
Dallas v Chivas USA - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave on his Red Card blog has the latest on defender Wilman Conde who demanded to be shipped to New York. It's getting bad in the locker room.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLORADO RAPIDS

Brian Forbes of the Denver Post with an article on coach Fernando Clavijo who is in a serious battle to keep his job this season. Hey, all he has to do is win and the job is his. Simple.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch says the Crew are getting ready for over 2000 Toronto fans to descend on their stadium Saturday. I love it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mitchell on the Covering the Crew blog has a few words with defender Chad Marshall, who needs to have a big season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News reports that Duilio Davino is training with the team again after a knee thingy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle suggests that the Dynamo might be moving into the Designated Player market. Awesome. Now take a big ol' chunk of that AEG cashola and go get yer hands on a big Big BIG name like Henry or Ronaldinho. They will sell massive amounts of tickets and orange shirts.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Bob Luder of the Kansas City Star on the Wizards Argentine contingent. Does every MLS team have one now - a contingent?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Brad Feldman and Rev's radio show In The Net are back for another season. Get the podcast of yesterdays show here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News visits the Salt Lake stadium construction site, and gets some words from owner Dave Checketts on where the team has been and where it is going.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

The Toronto Sun wonders how TFC fans will respond to another poor season on the field.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Season Previews

While too many other publications are giving us the obvious names to watch for this season, Pat Walsh at Goal.com gives us his little-knowns to watch out for. Excellent! Any putz can pick Blanco, Angel and Christian Gomez.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports with 3 more team season previews, Houston Dynamo - and - San Jose Earthquakes - and - Los Angeles Galaxy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeffrey Marcus of the New York Times looks at the Latin American player influx.
-Marcus lists his "Players to watch" this season.
-The Times also has an audio report where players in the league talk about their favorites.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Soccer Daily with a Western Conference preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales of Soccernet with a Kansas City season preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner with his season preview.
-And some more previewish notes on his blog The Pitch.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Ogden (Utah) Standard Examiner with their list of top things to watch for in the league this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Stadium Talk

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News with the latest on the sale of naming rights for the new Salt Lake stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Mar 28
Portland (USL1D) v San Jose in Portland, OR at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex
Carolina (USL1D) v New York in Cary, NC at the Wake Med Soccer Park
-Tue Apr 8
San Luis (FMF) v Chicago in Mexcali, Mexico at Estadio Casas GEO
-Tue May 13
Vancouver (USL1D) v Los Angeles in Edmonton, Alberta at Commonwealth Stadium
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

San Jose & New York are playing exhibition games on Friday because they don't have an opening weekend game. I guess they couldn't figure out a way to play each other. Lame.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division & PDL News

FC Dallas Updates is reporting that backup keeper Ray Burse is being pursued by Portland on a loan deal. The Timbers just lost their keeper Josh Wicks to LA. As an opponent of Portland, I do not want to see Ray Burse in their shirt. I think Scott Garlick & Ronald Wattereus are available.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF News

The top 3 Canadian club teams, Montreal, Toronto & Vancouver, have set up a home-and-away round-robin tournament to decide who will be their countries 1 representative in the new CONCACAF Champions League that starts next fall.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

Barbados defeated Dominica 1-0 last night and will advance 2-1 on aggregate.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Match reports from their two daily papers - The Advocate - and - Nation News.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One-off Qualifier Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Grenada 10-0 US Virgin Islands - Gren advance.
Montserrat 1-7 Surinam - Sur advance.
Puerto Rico 1-0 Dominican Republic - game ended 0-0, and PR won 1-0 in Extra Time to advance.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2nd leg Qualifier Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Wed Mar 26
Netherlands Antilles 2-0 Nicaragua - NA adv 3-0 on agg.
Anguilla 0-4 El Salvador - El S adv 16-0 on agg.
St Kitts & Nevis 1-1 Belize - Beli adv 4-2 on agg.
Bahamas 1-1 British Virgin Islands (1st leg)
Barbados 1-0 Dominica - Barb adv 2-1 on agg.
St Lucia 2-0 Turks & Caicos Islands - St L adv 3-2 on agg.
Antigua & Barbuda 1-0 Aruba - A & B adv 4-0 on agg.
-Mar 30
British Virgin Islands v Bahamas (1-1)
Cayman Islands v Bermuda (1-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post with a match report on Anguilla v El Salvador at RFK in DC.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Poland 0-3 USA in Krakow
Mexico 2-1 Ghana in London
Jamaica 2-2 Trinidad & Tobago
Peru 3-1 Costa Rica
Estonia 2-0 Canada in Tallinn
Colombia 1-2 Honduras in Fort Lauderdale FL
Ecuador 3-1 Haiti
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF Champions Cup

CONCACAF has handed Saprissa a token $15,000 fine and a stern warning after fans pelted the field with debris injuring an Atlante player in the first round series. Details included.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

Only 3 more days until the Mexican federation honchos meet and decide the near future fate of coach Hugo Sanchez.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Mar 25
Coronel Bolognesi 0-0 Cienciano
Maracaibo 1-1 Atlas - Mar goal by Dario Figueroa(PK). Atl goal by Bruno Marioni
San Lorenzo 1-0 Bamin Real Potosi - SL goal by Adrian Gonzalez
-Mar 26
Liga Dep Univ Quito 6-1 Arsenal - LDUQ goals by Patricio Urrutia, Damian Manso, Luis Bolanos (2), Claudio Bieler & Alfonso Obregon. Ars goal by Luciano Leguizamon.
River Plate 2-0 Universidad Catolica - RP goals by Radamel Falcao Garcia & Sebastian Abreu.
Dep Univ San Martin 1-0 America - DUSM goal by Mario Leguizamon.
-Mar 27
Cucuta Deportivo v Chivas Guadalajara
Boca Juniors v Colo Colo
Danubio v Deportivo Cuenca
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Last night LDU Quito of Ecuador became the first team to advance to the knock out rounds. 2 teams from each of the 8 groups advance, and with 4 of 6 rounds played their 10 points in the cannot be surpassed by the teams in 3rd or 4th place.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Robert Pires got a one year contract extension from Villarreal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Turkey & Bayern Munich have lost important midfielder Hamit Altintop for most likely 2 months after he broke his foot in his countries match v Belarus yesterday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Italian press is starting to ask for Giuseppe Rossi in the nations senior team lineup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about another of the du Nord fave players Michael Ballack, and even though MB was injured through most of the first half of the season, it didn't keep him from doing some great stuff for other people who really need help.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Reuters Soccer Blog asks the same question that is bouncing around in my head - What is going on with Inter Milan?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League

Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Andorra 0-3 Latvia
Armenia 1-0 Kazakhstan
Austria 3-4 Netherlands
Belarus 2-1 Turkey
Belgium 1-4 Morocco
Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-2 Macedonia
Bulgaria 2-1 Finland
Denmark 1-1 Czech Republic
Estonia 2-0 Canada
France 1-0 England
Hungary 0-1 Slovenia
Israel 1-0 Chile
Lithuania 1-0 Azerbaijan
Luxembourg 0-2 Wales
Malta 7-1 Liechtenstein
Montenegro 3-1 Norway
N Ireland 4-1 Georgia
Poland 0-3 USA
Portugal 1-2 Greece
Romania 3-0 Russia
Scotland 1-1 Croatia
Slovakia 1-2 Iceland
Spain 1-0 Italy
Sweden 0-1 Brazil
Switzerland 0-4 Germany
Ukraine 2-0 Serbia
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

La Gazzetta says that even though Italy lost in Spain coach Donadoni is not phased by it and the prep continues for the summer tourney.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Barney Ronay of the Guardian says that while England played by all of Don Capello's rules, they still weren't very good.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Lawton of the Independent says it was not pretty for Capello & England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Asian World Cup Qualifying

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Singapore 2-0 Lebanon
N Korea 0-0 S Korea in Shanghai China
Thailand 0-1 Oman
China 0-0 Australia
Turkmenistan 0-2 Jordan
Uzbekistan 3-0 Saudi Arabia
Bahrain 1-0 Japan
Syria 1-1 United Arab Emirates
Kuwait 2-2 Iran
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Standings

USA To Face Barbados In First Qualifiers

Barbados scored a very late goal to beat Dominica 1-0, and advance 2-1 on aggregate.

Their reward is to play the USA in a home and away series in the next round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.

The 1st leg will be played on Sunday June 15 in the United States at the Home Depot Center in suburban LA.

The 2nd leg will take place within the week after that in Barbados. (I have seen the date Wednesday June 18th bandied about.)

By the way, can anyone tell me why the USA would have to play any possible extra time period on the road after the second leg in the case of a tie???

The Kissing Bandit Came Back For It News

Does MLS want to make a real splash?? There are two world class players out there, who might be slightly past their prime, but still amazing and are stuck in bad situations right now. Actually both are at Barcelona. Henry & Ronaldinho. Yes it will cost a lot of money. A LOT OF MONEY. But as the league saw with Brockelman, they will make it back quickly. These two have charm and flash. They will sell a ton of tickets and another ton of shirts! Go for it! Come on! I dare ya! We know you have the money.

~and~

Some Denver media continues to prove that it is Moronville for soccer. What, no giant John Elway teeth to cover? Today at the Denver Post there is a headline: "Rapids wrapping up preseason". Ok, I want to see what they have to say. Guess what? Three sentences! Yes that's right, 3! Wow, that's insulting.

~and~

Great Team USA fact from US Soccer: "Since last year and prior to the USA’s first World Cup qualifier this summer (June 15), the U.S. will have faced four teams ranked in the top 10 in the world: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Spain. All together, the team will have played 23 games, competed in two major international tournaments, captured the Gold Cup title, and traveled to seven different countries. Not bad for World Cup qualifying preparation."


Team USA

-Wed Mar 26
Polska v USA - International friendly from Krakow, live at 2:30pm central time on Fox Soccer Channel.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Team USA official blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

AP with a story on Michael Bradley.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Soccer Daily talks to Jay DeMerit who is all ready to go for the match today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America gives his well thought out reasons why he would have left Landon Donovan off the USA roster for this game. via Sports Illustrated.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The last training photos before the game from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Video from that same training session also from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A lot of talk today seems to be about the new USA light black shirts. I have not had anyone tell me they like it. I am indifferent. But sorta leaning toward like. And I always have to wait until I see them on the field.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times Goal blog wonders what the deal is with Nike and the USA colors.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Over at Big Soccer the argument is mixed, but I would say that it tilts slightly toward positive. One poster, Sitruc, said it all though - "I'm sure some of the people who say they don't like it would buy it if it had a Brazil badge and not a US badge."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS First Kick

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 29
Columbus v Toronto - 3pm central on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v Chicago - 5pm central on Direct Kick
New England v Houston - 6:30pm central on FSC
Kansas City v DC - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Colorado v Los Angeles - 8:30pm central on FSC
-Sun Apr 30
Dallas v Chivas USA - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

GENERAL

Jeff Bradley at MLSnet looks back at MLS Cup rematches of the past, seeing as we have one on opening day. First XI: Revenge Seekers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CHICAGO FIRE

American Soccer News was on hand at the annual Fire preseason luncheon and talked to some coaches and players - here are some bits of info.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports wonders if Cuauhtemoc Blanco can do it again, or maybe even better, for the Fire this season. This is one of the leagues great questions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLORADO RAPIDS

Rapids Class VI blog No Fan Alone has VI Questions for Coach Clavijo.
-The Rapids have a ton of injuries to start the season, read about them in the Q & A.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Class VI also reports that after less than 2 months on the job Juergen Sommer has left the Director of Soccer position at the Rapids. However, Sommer is still listed on the official team staff list.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch with some info from the Crew's media day on his Covering the Crew blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rogers of Yahoo also writes about Columbus's top draft pick, English centerback Andy Iro.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

Dan Steinberg of the almighty Sports Bog tells us who is living in Ben Olsen's basement.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post looks at DC's big road trip, to KC to open the season, and then to Cancun to take on Atlante in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with a look ahead to the Dynamo's season opener in New England. Then like DC they go right back to Champions Cup action, at home v Saprissa of Costa Rica!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star looks at the river of players flowing from South America to MLS these days.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

The Offside Rules with a link to a great ESPN video interview with Taylor Twellman. He get's asked about every thing that he and his team have failed to do over the past batch of years. Oof.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Connolly of the Boston Herald on Taylor Twellman and his New England teammates as they get ready for 08.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Adam Smartschan of the Cape Cod Times with an article on New England's brand new left midfielder Mauricio Castro who will get the start in game 1 due to Khano Smith being with his Bermuda national team for World Cup qualifying. Castro last played for Hispano in his native Honduras.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

The Red Bulls have finally signed forward Oscar Echeverry the forward from Atletico Nacional in his native Colombia.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MetroFanatic has some great stuff for us from NYRB media day - interviews with 13 players and 1 team exec. Excellent.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer tells us that fullback Hunter Freeman will be out 4-6 weeks with an ankle injury he suffered in Olympic qualifying.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer gives his words and images from NYRB media day.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com gives us a recap of the New York media day event.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lewis also gets a few words from NYRB coach Juan Carlos Osorio.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The official Red Bulls Reader blog has video interviews with fullback Hunter Freeman, and rookie David Roth.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger with an article on NYRB coach Juan Carlos Osorio.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News on the return of players Robbie Findley, Chris Seitz & Nathan Sturgis from the USA Olympic team. It's not too bad when you have these young guys on your depth chart.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Stephen Brunt of the Toronto Globe & Mail wonders if fans will grow impatient quickly with their still fairly miserable looking team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Toronto Sun talks to TFC coach John Carver about long term goals.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Season Previews

Mark Zeilger of the San Diego Union Tribune gives us his view of the league over-all as year 13 begins.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News previews the season of the New England Revolution.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters says the this MLS season is starting without all the Brockelmania.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Stadium Talk

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to Red Bull pres Marc de Grandpre about work on Red Bull Park.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Washington Times says DC United might not be able to wait much longer for the city to decide what they want to do with a stadium proposal. Suburbs here they come?
-More on the frustration from the Wash Times $ports Biz Blog.
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MLS Expansion News

The Toronto Sun says USL1D team Montreal Impact are getting serious about joining MLS. And they are looking to get Liverpool owner George Gillet on board with them.
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The Seattle Post Intelligencer with a story on the naming of the new team. The choices are bad. Not stupid bad, but lame bad. Seattle Alliance. Seattle FC. Seattle Republic. If that is all you get to chose from then you have to pick FC cuz its the least lame.
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MLS Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Mar 28
Portland (USL1) v San Jose in Portland OR at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex
-Tue Apr 8
San Luis (FMF) v Chicago in Mexcali, Mexico at Estadio Casas GEO
-Tue May 13
Vancouver (USL1) v Los Angeles in Edmonton, Alberta at Commonwealth Stadium
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San Jose is playing this game on Friday because they don't have an opening weekend game. Neither does New York. I guess they couldn't figure out a way to play each other. Whatever.
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Former MLS Player News

Liberian fullback Willis Forko formerly of Real Salt Lake has signed with Bodo Glimt in Norway.
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USL First Division & PDL News

Jen Chang of Soccernet gives us his full recap of spending several days in training camp with Charleston - on the field, doing what they do.
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Oh, before I forget to mention this, Charleston goalkeeper Dusty Hudock is pretty much a complete tool.
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USA Olympic Team

It looks like the team will be playing in a tournament in France at the end of May.
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Yanks Abroad reviews the qualifying trip for our team and CONCACAF.
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Americans In Europe

The Glasgow Herald with an update on DaMarcus Beasley's recovery from knee surgery. He is doing well!
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Soccer365 with an article quoting Michael Bradley in Dutch magazine Ajax Life, saying he wants a transfer out of Heerenveen & Holland this summer because the style of play does not suit him.
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CONCACAF News

The Toronto Sun with info on the new man in charge of the Canadian Soccer Association. This guy has a big job to do, and will be under a microscope. Not the best formula.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

One-off Qualifier Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Grenada v US Virgin Islands
Montserrat v Surinam
Puerto Rico v Dominican Republic
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2nd leg Qualifier Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Wed Mar 26
Netherlands Antilles v Nicaragua (1-0)
Anguilla v El Salvador (0-12) in Washington DC
St Kitts & Nevis v Belize (1-3)
Bahamas v British Virgin Islands (1st leg)
Barbados v Dominica (1-1)
St Lucia v Turks & Caicos Islands (1-2)
Antigua & Barbuda v Aruba (3-0)
-Mar 30
British Virgin Islands v Bahamas (-)
Cayman Islands v Bermuda (1-1)
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Some time tonight the USA will know their first qualifying opponent - either Barbados or Dominica.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post explains why Anguilla has to host their "home" game in the USA.
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FIFA.com gives us a look at the team from the British Virgin Islands.
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Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Sun Mar 23
Venezuela v El Salvador
-Wed Mar 26
Poland v USA in Krakow
Mexico v Gambia in London
Jamaica v Trinidad & Tobago
Peru v Costa Rica
Estonia v Canada in Tallinn
Colombia v Honduras in Fort Lauderdale FL
Ecuador v Haiti
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South American News

Gregory Sica of Sports Illustrated enlightens us cretins to the glory & might of Chile's Colo-Colo.
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Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro celebrated their 100th anniversary today.
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Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Mar 25
Coronel Bolognesi 0-0 Cienciano
Maracaibo 1-1 Atlas - Mar goal by Dario Figueroa(PK). Atl goal by Bruno Marioni
San Lorenzo 1-0 Bamin Real Potosi - SL goal by Adrian Gonzalez
-Mar 26
Liga Universitaria Quito v Arsenal
River Plate v Universidad Catolica
Dep Univ San Martin v America
-Mar 27
Cucuta Deportivo v Chivas Guadalajara
Boca Juniors v Colo Colo
Danubio v Deportivo Cuenca
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Group Stage Standings
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European News

The Earth Times on the Barcelona-Ronaldinho soap opera.
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La Gazzetta dello Sport talks to Italian centerback Fab Cannavaro who says the team are focused on playing Spain, not their coaches lack of a contract extension.
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UEFA Champions League

Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Andorra v Latvia
Armenia v Kazakhstan
Austria v Netherlands
Belarus v Turkey
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Macedonia
Bulgaria v Finland
Denmark v Czech Republic
Estonia v Canada
France v England
Hungary v Slovenia
Israel v Chile
Lithuania v Azerbaijan
Luxembourg v Wales
Malta v Liechtenstein
Montenegro v Norway
Northern Ireland v Georgia
Poland v USA
Portugal v Greece
Romania v Russia
Scotland v Croatia
Slovakia v Iceland
Spain v Italy
Sweden v Brazil
Switzerland v Germany
Ukraine v Serbia
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2008 UEFA European Championship

FIFA.com has Q & A's with the coaches of the 2 host countries - Josef Hickersberger of Austria - and - Kobi Kuhn of Switzerland.
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World News

Ravi Ubha of the Seattle Post Intelligencer with his high quality weekly world soccer news recap - the Beautiful Game.
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Asian World Cup Qualifying

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Singapore 2-0 Lebanon
N Korea 0-0 S Korea in Shanghai China
Thailand 0-1 Oman
China 0-0 Australia
Turkmenistan 0-2 Jordan
Uzbekistan 3-0 Saudi Arabia
Bahrain v Japan
Syria v United Arab Emirates
Kuwait v Iran
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Australia's coach Pim Verbeek.
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The Guardian with a great article on the national teams of Iran & Iraq.