It's What I Want News

I am very excited to report that for the 6th consecutive year I will be heading to Kansas City this weekend for their season opener!! Can't wait to see all of you who I know from the past, and meet many new people!

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The new USA second shirt has been introduced. I assume they will wear it tomorrow in Poland. But what do you call that color? Officially it's known as Anthracite. I'm gonna go with Light Black

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USA & Charlton defender Cory Gibbs describes the insane series of injuries that have kept him off the field since late May 06: "It started with the knee injury that kept me out of the 2006 World Cup. I came back in November, and in my first reserve game with Charlton I did the same knee again. That kept me out the rest of the season. I came back fit for the preseason in the summer of 2007, but in the second training game I did the MCL in the other knee, which set me back another eight weeks. I returned to training in mid-October, and just before I was ready to join the first team I got hurt in a reserve game. I got stomped on by my own player, and broke three metatarsals in my left foot! That injury cost me another three months." See the whole Q & A below in the Team USA section.

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USA coach Bob Bradley talking about midfielder Benny Fielhaber, in an article by Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet: "He has to grow up. He has to mature as a player. He has to understand, day in and day out, how to earn the respect of the people he plays with." But then why did Bradley bring him in to the team for the match in Poland? I don't get it. See Team USA section for the full story.

Word is out that MLS is changing the playoff format AGAIN! Last year the top 2 teams in the East & West got in, then the next 4 best. This year the top 3 from East & West and the next 2 will get in. Is this a big deal?


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
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MLS News

GENERAL

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog with some very important words from Commish Donny G regarding future expansion after Philly. Great stuff.
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Beau Dure of USA Today has a great blog post this morning with a link to a video interview on Fox with MLS Chief-Daddy-Oh Donald Garber, and DC United's Captain Caveman Ben Olsen! Nothing new on the info side, but still cool to watch nonetheless. (thanks for finding this Beau)
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The CBC with an article on the continued influx of South Americans to MLS,
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Ives Galarcep at the Herald News looks into his crystal ball for a vision of MLS's near future.
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Andrew Dixon at the US National Soccer Players Assoc with his prediction of the top stories in the 2008 season.
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NEW ENGLAND

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe writes about New England midfielder Shalrie Joseph who pulls double duty this week as he plays for his native Grenada on Wednesday night in World Cup qualifying, then leads the Rev's in a MLS Cup rematch against Houston on Saturday.
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And Dell'apa reports that both of New England's starting outside midfielders will be missing on Saturday. Khano Smith also to World Cup qualifying, for Bermuda, and Wells Thompson due to injury.
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CHIVAS USA

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports with an article on the continuing career of Chivas USA coach Preki.
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LOS ANGELES

Nick Green of the LA Daily News on the return of the prodigal fish to LA - Carlos Ruiz.
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DALLAS

Rogers at Yahoo also writes about the standard of MLS play according to Dallas coach Steve Morrow.
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Dallas forward Ricardinho has a banged up ankle, is in a walking cast, and will most likely be out for the opener.
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TORONTO

The National Post in Canada looks at Toronto FC's horrible play in the Charleston Challenge Cup. Coach John Carver calls it the worst performance he has ever coached.
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Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail On Soccer blog tells Toronto fans that the sky is not falling.
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Nigel Reed on the CBC Extra Time blog gives us his thoughts on Toronto in Charleston.
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HOUSTON

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle gives us the Top 10 Dynamo games to date. They are being shown on local television in the build up to their first home game in Week 2.
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COLUMBUS

Columbus has officially signed Argentine fullback Gino Padula from Montpellier in France. He now has to wait for his work visa.
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MLS Season Previews

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle says the spotlight is on MLS this weekend, and the teams must respond.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet with a preview of San Jose.
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Andrea Canales of Soccernet with a preview of Los Angeles.
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Steve Davis of Soccernet with a preview of Salt Lake.
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American Soccer Daily with their Eastern Conference team-by-team preview.
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James Edward of the Deseret Morning News with his Eastern Conference preview.
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Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram with his season preview.
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Chicago's Daily Herald with a season preview.
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MLS Preseason Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Mar 24
Salt Lake 3-0 Lobos in Salt Lake
-Fri Mar 28
Portland v San Jose in Portland at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex
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Former player Shaun Goater in the Royal Gazette comments on the Bermuda v Colorado Rapids game last weekend. He liked what he say from his native team. No, he's not from the Rocky Mountain state.
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MLS Rumors - Don't Tease Me Bro

The Paisley Daily Express in Scotland says that New England defender Avery John has been spotted training at St Mirren, the club that signed former Rev, Andy Dorman. The article says John will be reporting to New England. Um? When?
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It seems almost certain that DC will sign Brazilian striker Cezar. His full name is Cezar Hermenegildo. I would just go by the one name too.
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Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio told the media that they team will not be signing Ronald Vargas. He is too expensive.
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USL First Division & PDL News

With new ownership comes immediately change, and in Rochester that means coach Laurie Calloway is OUT. The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle with the details.
-Us Minnesota fans are gonna miss the old crusty sea captain, the old barking dog. He was a fave. Let's hope we see him soon with someone else.
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I don't know how many people are aware of this, but Portland goalkeeper Josh Wicks has signed with the LA Galaxy.
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Jen Chang, soccer editor for ESPN Soccernet is in Charleston training with the Battery as if he were a players trying to make the team and give us the story as he goes along. I missed this one, but Friday had been his last day. We can expect a full recap very soon.
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Montreal's preseason took a big step forward as they beat the Honduran national team 3-1 in Florida yesterday. Wow.
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Team USA

Team USA official blog.
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-Wed Mar 26
Poland v USA - International friendly from Krakow, live at 2:30pm central time on Fox Soccer Channel.
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The blog has a Q & A with defender Cory Gibbs.
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Goal.com has their very own Q & A with Mr Gibbs.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet says coach Bob Bradley will get a chance to see some European players that he hasn't seen in a while.
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The USA trains in Poland, photos from US Soccer.
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US Soccer also gives us an update and notes from Poland.
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USA Olympic Qualifying

Luis Bueno at the Press Enterprise with some USA post tournament analysis.
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Soccer In America

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer with a story on "the man who discovered Jozy. (Altidore) " Josef Schulz of Boca Raton FL.
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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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By tomorrow night the USA will know their first qualifying opponent -either Barbados or Dominica.
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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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Mexico & FMF News

FIFA.com previews Mexico before their match v Ghana on Wednesday.
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South American News

Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro celebrated their 100th anniversary today.
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Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Mar 25
Coronel Bolognesi v Cienciano
Maracaibo v Atlas
San Lorenzo v Bamin Real Potosi
-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

Alessandro Del Piero has now played 552 games for Juventus, tying him for the most all time with Gaetano Scirea. I think that number is fairly extraordinary.
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The brilliant Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano is still insisting he has no idea why he was given a second Yellow Card on Sunday, but he has apologized to his teammates for putting them in a tough spot. As for apologizing to the referee for his obnoxious behavior, don't count on it.
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James Lawton of the Independent says managers need to take responsibility too when their players have out of line reactions to referees.
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The Times gives Arsenal captain William Gallas space to take you through a typical day in his football life. I wonder if he explains that hair.
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The Insider of Soccernet went to see the Tottenham v Portsmouth game and gives us this report. Always a good read.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports looks for David Breckman's spot in English football history.
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Chuck Culpepper writing for the LA Times from London also reports on Breckman's 100th game for England.
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The Independent with Breckman's past, present and future with England.
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The Independent also reports that Capello & Co. feel the English players are just not good enough to top the top.
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The Times blog The Game has a Q & A with MK Dons coach Paul Ince who really wants to become coach at Inter.
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Raphael Honigstein at the Guardian with last weekends Bundesliga play.
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Ben Lyttleton at the Guardian looks at who France will have on the field v England tomorrow.
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The Reuters Soccer Blog wonders if anyone wants to win the Spanish title this season.
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Reuters reports that the President of Porto has been charged and will stand trial for bribing a referee in the 04 season.
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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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World News

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reports that World Cup winning coach Carlos Alberto Parreira is finding the going tough in South Africa.
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African News

Eritrea has withdrawn from World Cup qualifying in Africa before a single game has been played.
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Asian World Cup Qualifying

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Kuwait v Iran
Singapore v Lebanon
N Korea v S Korea in Shanghai China
Thailand v Oman
Bahrain v Japan
Uzbekistan v Saudi Arabia
Syria v United Arab Emirates
China v Australia
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World Cup 2010 - South Africa News

GolTV in the USA has acquired the rights to show all the German World Cup qualifiers. Cool.