Facing Facts News

Well, that didn't last long did it. LA has already released big name off season signing Celestine Babayaro.

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Goal.com has an exclusive interview with Bruce Arena. See Soccer In America section.

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There has been a rumor for several weeks now that the USA will play a match in early June (the 8th) v Argentina, on American soil. Well you can add to that rumor that the game will be played at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.


MLS News

Jack Bell of the New York Times on the ugly war between Chicago and New York over players and rights. Plus other soccer news.
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to New York's Dave Van Den Bergh, who has been moved to a defensive midfielder role.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post looks at how DC United is gelling on the field with all these new players.
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Ives Galarcep of Soccernet continues the websites season preview series - DC United.
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Kansas City has signed striker Ivan Trujillo from La Equidad in Colombia. He started his career at Cali, played one year for Once Caldes and then La Eq.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe looks at potential starting forwards for New England. Who will play beside Taylor Twellman? Plus Dell'apa addresses the Philly fake turf issue.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on the Dynamo's search for more players - especially strikers.
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Nick Green of the LA Daily News compares roster depth of the Galaxy and Chivas USA.
-Green, on his 100% Soccer blog, notes the departure of Billy Witz and Ivan Orozco from the Daily News staff. They now have exactly no one covering soccer regularly. Green covers the Torrance City Council, and writes what he can on the game he loves.
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LA cut both Kyle Martino and Kelly Gray from their roster yesterday.
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Chicago's Daily Herald with a story on the Fire's new Technical Director Frank Klopas - Mr. Chicago Soccer.
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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch on his blog Covering The Crew has some words with Columbus Tech Dir Brian Bliss on the roster.
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Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune with an article on RSL's 17 year old forward Alex Nimo who came to America as a refugee.
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Luis Bueno on the growth of MLS this offseason - new owners, new teams etc
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Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle looks at the steady build of soccer structure going on in the city of Houston. From the ground up.
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MLS Waiver Draft - Yesterday all teams had to trim their roster to just 28 players, so anyone still under contract that they did not want had to be released. Those players are now available to everyone else in the league through a dispersal draft on this afternoon. The full list of players can be seen here via Soccer America.
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George Tanner of the FC Rocky blog after Colorado announced the signing of Brazilian midfielder Rafael Gomes: "Gomes to Gomez to Gomez ... GOAL!"
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MLS Preseason Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Mar 3
Red Bull Salzburg Juniors 1-0 New York in Salzburg
Pioneros de Cancun (Mexico) 1-4 New England in Cancun
J Malucelli (Brazil) 1-2 Dallas in Brazil
-Tue Mar 4
Defensa y Justicia (Argentina) v Kansas City in Buenos Aires
Paranaense Reserves (Brazil) v Dallas at CAPTC in Curtiba Brazil
Red Bull Salzburg v New York in Salzburg
Necaxa (Mexico) v Chicago in Aguascalientes
-Wed Mar 5
China All-Star Union (China) v Los Angeles at Shanghai Stadium in Shanghai China
Velez Sarsfield (Argentina) v Kansas City in Buenos Aires
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New York Monday match report by Ives Galarcep at Soccer by Ives.
-And more on the knee injury suffered by Dane Richards in that game.
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New England Monday match report from the teams website.
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Dallas Monday match report from the teams blog.
-The team had a surprise visitor at camp too.
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Texas Pro Soccer Festival

Preseason tournament March 3-9 in San Antonio TX.
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Website
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Teams:
Chivas USA
DC United
Houston Dynamo
Toronto FC
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Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 5
Chivas v Toronto
Houston v DC
-Fri Mar 7
Toronto v DC
Chivas v Houston
-Sun Mar 9
DC v Chivas
Houston v Toronto
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MLS Rumors - Don't Tease Me Bro

Toronto is supposedly showing interest in Sunderland midfielder Ross Wallace. Wallace has been out since December with a knee injury.
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Brazilian forward Reinaldo from Queensland in Australia was rumored to be signing with Colorado at any moment now. Well, guess what? He gave the Rapids the old Heisman stiff arm and signed with a team in South Korea.
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Soccer In America

Marc Connolly of Goal.com gives us Part 1 of a Q & A with former USA & New York coach Bruce Arena. As far as I know, this is his first interview since being fired by NYRB late last fall. Part 2 will run on Thursday.
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Americans In Europe

Yanks Abroad with the latest on Bobby Convey's troubled knee.
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Monday night match:
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - started, went the full match and was his team hero scoring in injury time to make it 1-1 at Freiburg.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

FIFA.com teaches us something about the team from Belize.
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CONCACAF News

The Jamaica Observer with a pre-preview of Harbour View v DC United in the Champions Cup next week. Yes, next week!
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Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 4
Santos v Chivas Guadalajara
Liga Universitaria Quito v Libertad
Cruzeiro v Caracas
-Wed Mar 5
Danubio v Estudiantes
Fluminense v Arsenal
Sao Paulo v Audax Italiano
-Thu Mar 6
Atletico Nacional v Sportivo Luqueno
Nacional v Flamengo
Boca Juniors v Atlas
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Group Stage Standings
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Marcelo Moreno Martins of Bolivia & Cruziero. He is quickly becoming one of the bright young stars in the Brazilian league.
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European News

Another stunning on-field meltdown to report - this one featuring Antonio Cassano (big surprise!) of Sampdoria. In the weekend match v Torino he scored a goal and ran over to the corner to celebrate. He kicked the corner flag, which flicked back and smacked him in the face. For which he got a Yellow Card! A little later he was whistled for a very light foul and twice yelled at the referee to "F-Off". When the referee asked him what he said Cassano properly enunciated "F-Off" directly at the referee who gave him a second Yellow, meaning Red. That is when Cassano really went nuts, screaming everything in the book at the referee, ripping off his shirt and throwing it at the ref. Several players from both teams dragged him off the field. But when he got to the tunnel he turned back, telling the referee he was going to wait right there for him until after the game so they could settle it. Oh wow. Later he apologized to everyone who has ever been born and even more so to the referee. Today, he got suspended for 5 games.
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Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian tells us that old Eastern European powerhouses Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk are finally rebuilding toward the glory years.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune takes a closer look at foreign ownership of the teams in England's Premier League.
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UEFA Champions League

Round of 16 - 2nd leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue Mar 4
Barcelona v Celtic (3-2)
Man United v Lyon (1-1)
Sevilla v Fenerbahce (2-3)
Milan v Arsenal (0-0)
-Wed Mar 5
Porto v Schalke (1-0)
Real Madrid v Roma (1-2)
Chelsea v Olympiacos (0-0)
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World News

The Reuters Soccer Blog looks at how the big European teams are getting around FIFA laws to sign South American players under the age of 18. And Vasco da Gama tries to fight back. That appears to be a futile effort if you ask me.
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Tim Vickery at Sports Illustrated says that one of his favorite parts of football culture is taking public transportation to the game.
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Sam Jacob is an magazine editor in the field of architecture. He is also a football fanatico and has posted several very cool stories with connections to football on his Strange Harvest blog. They are not about the game per se, but about design, culture and football as one. Here are his 4 most recent posts:
-Authentic Replicas: Football and the Franchising of Place
-Folk Football: Landscape, Space and Abstraction
-Imperfect Pitch - Football, Space and Landscape
-Football Pitch: Best of British
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Andrew Dixon at the US National Soccer Players Assoc writes about the ideas Michel Plantini is trying to implement in UEFA.
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This Is The End

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer is in Austria at the New York Red Bulls training camp, and he has some hilarious observations from Austrian television.