Lunchtime Cryogenics Lecture Series News

The Soccer Reports of North America has awarded their Best Feature Story of 2007 to Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune for his story on Chicago Fire midfielder Bakarey Soumare and his amazing tale from Africa to Paris to New York to MLS, and none of it on the easy path. Congrats to Luis. One of the good guys.


MLS News

MLS's Deputy Dawg Ivan Gazidis talked to the media yesterday and outlined the 2008 plan for the league. Luis Bueno on his Sideline Views blog gave what I think is the most succinct recap. There are not any earth shattering bits in here, but some nice stuff.
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The San Jose Mercury News talks to Gazidis about the Earthquakes building a brand new team from scratch.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet says bad boy Amado Guevara is headed for Toronto FC. He is currently back in his native Honduras playing for Motagua.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet with their season preview of Dallas.
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Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle calls Dwayne De Rosario the proto attacking midfielder in MLS. Um, duh!
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Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail's On Soccer blog looks at the good and bad of signing Guevara.
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Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star gives us some more insight into TFC coach John Carver.
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Jimmy McNulty of the Toronto Sun says that even though MLS changed some citizenship rules for rosters, TFC is still at a disadvantage.
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Nick Green from the LA Daily News wonders why Chivas USA has done so little in the offseason to upgrade their team on and off the field.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe says New England joins the list of MLS team going to a preseason tournament only to find a terrible field. From New Orleans.
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Salt Lake has hired former Minnesota Thunder and Tampa Bay Mutiny General Manager Bill Manning as the teams President. He was recently with the Philadelphia Eagles.
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While LA was in Dallas for the match last weekend midfielder Douglas Borgman had a flashback to 1989 courtesy of the Daily Mirror. No, they didn't spike his Vitamin Water with aceeeeed.
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MLS Expansion News

The Philadelphia Inquirer has an Opinion piece on the soon-to-be new team in Philly. Written by a journalism teacher.
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MLS Rumors - Don't Tease Me Bro

Ives Galarcep says is New York v Barcelona on Aug 7 at Giants Stadium.
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It looks like Toronto is set to sign defender Marco Velez from the Puerto Rico Islanders.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog with the latest in the battle between Chicago and New York over midfielder Lider Marmol. Plus some other goodies.
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USL First Division & PDL News

The Portland Tribune with a big feature story on Timbers owner Merritt Paulson.
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USA Olympic Team

Official team blog.
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Jonathan Spector has joined the USA team from his club West Ham. I can't imagine him not starting at centerback. So which two of these three sits out? Ianni, Orozco or Sturgis?
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CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying

The 2 semifinal winners will qualify for the Olympics in Beijing in late summer.
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As of Monday 7000 tickets had been sold for the Semifinals.
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Semifinal Matches & Scores (both games at LP Field in Nashville TN):
-Thu Mar 20
Guatemala v Honduras
USA v Canada
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Final Matches & Scores (all games at LP Field in Nashville TN):
-Sun Mar 23
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Ives Galarcep at the Herald News says the USA's job is very straight forward. Beat Canada.
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Beau Dure of USA Today checks in on the defecting Cubans.
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The Tennessean in Nashville with the obligatory Freddy Adu story.
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US Soccer with a report on the USA team as they arrive in Nashville, and some quotes from players and coaches.
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Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star looks ahead with the Canadians.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet says the USA better take Canada seriously.
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FIFA.com previews the two underdogs - Guatemala & Canada.
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Soccer In America

The Livingston Daily Press & Argus from Western Michigan has a story on a local boy who just returned from an eye opening football trip to Spain.
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Americans In Europe

The BBC has video interview footage with Brian McBride after he scored the game winner for Fulham over the weekend. (thanks to Brian for this)
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The Sporting News says Fulham's survival in the Premiership would benefit an awful lot of people.
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The Daily Post of Wales talks to McBride about the man who initially brought him to England, current Everton coach David Moyes.
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CONCACAF Champions Cup

Quarterfinals - 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue Mar 18
DC v Harbour View (1-1)
-Wed Mar 19
Pachuca v Motagua (0-0)
Houston v Municipal (0-0)
-Thu Mar 20
Saprissa v Atlante (1-2)
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NOTE: There is no away-goals tie breaker used in this tournament.
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Jaime Moreno will NOT play on Tuesday for DC United due to his hamstring strain.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post looks at DC as they prepare for the 2nd leg with Harbour View.
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Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner says DC are really looking forward to playing a game at their home - RFK Stadium.
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John Haydon of the Washington Times previews DC for tonight’s game.
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The Jamaica Gleaner with a Harbour View preview.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet previews both DC & Houston.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle looks ahead to Wednesday night when the Dynamo host Los Rojos.
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CONCACAF News

Luis Bueno at the Press Enterprise looks at the pressure now piling up on Mexicoach Hugo Sanchez.
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FMF News

Soccer365 with a week 10 round up.
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Mexican Premiera Top 6 (10 of 17 rounds played):
22 Guadalajara
19 San Luis
16 Cruz Azul
16 Santos Laguna
15 Chiapas
15 Toluca
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South American News

Argentina Primera Division Top Seven (after 5 of 19 games played):
13 Velez Sarsfield
13 Estudiantes
12 Boca Juniors
10 Independiente
10 Newell's Old Boys
10 Tigre
10 Arsenal
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Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 18
Audax Italiano v Atletico Nacional
Estudiantes v Danubio
Caracas v Cruzeiro
-Wed Mar 19
San Jose v Santos
Flamengo v Nacional
Libertad v Fluminense
-Thu Mar 20
Deportivo Cuenca - Lanus
Sportivo Luqueno v Sao Paulo
Colo Colo v Boca Juniors
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Group Stage Standings
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European News

A story from the Times of London on how the English Football Assoc is planning a $400million investment in the youth game.
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The Times looks to Turkey and sees why Fenerbahce are having success.
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Martin Samuel of the Times with a great weekly column touching on subjects like Valentino Rossi, Mido, and Sepp Blatter, but first focusing on why the English Premier League is not big for Brazilians.
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The rumors are back - Italian paper Gazetta dello Sport reports that an American is going to buy Roma. This time it's John Fisher who is a part owner of the San Jose Earthquakes and Oakland A's baseball team.
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Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian takes us to opening day in the Russian League, and a show down between the top 2 - Zenit v Spartak.
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Ben Lyttleton of the Guardian looks in on the bottom dwellers in France.
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The Independent looks ahead to Scotland's first match under new manager George Burley. They host Croatia on Mar 26.
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FIFA.com has an article on one of the surprise teams in Spain this season - Getafe. They have also made the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup.
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Euro League Cup Competitions

-Coupe de France-
Round of 16 - Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 18
Paris Saint Germain v Bastia
Dijon Football v Tours
Sedan Ardennes v Angers
Lyon v Sochaux
-Wed Mar 19
Bordeaux v Lille
Amiens v Arles
Lorient v Metz
Carquefou v Marseille
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-DFB Pokal-
Semifinals - Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 18
Borussia Dortmund v Carl Zeiss Jena
-Wed Mar 19
Bayern Munchen v Wolfsburg
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-KNVB Beker-
Semifinal Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 18
Feyennord v NAC Breda
-Wed Mar 19
Heracles Almelo v Roda JC Kerkrade
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World News

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about football players, and associations and how some of them spend their money giving back to the world and their community.