Perfectly Fine News

Now that is how you play the game! The USA Olympic team played a nearly flawless match and beat Canada 3-0 to secure their spot in Beijing in late summer. Great job fellas! See details in CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying section.


TV Specials This Weekend

60 Minutes has an interview with David Beckham this Sunday night, Mar 23. Their website has a preview of the story.
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Fox Soccer Channel will be running a MLS Season Preview on Sun Mar 23 at 7pm central.
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MLS News

Chivas USA has signed Francisco Mendoza to a contract for this season. I had no idea this was still an issue.
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Remember yesterday when I wrote that Brad Guzan's knee injury would keep him out of the Chivas lineup for game 1. I might be wrong about that.
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Buzz Carrick with this weeks FC Dallas practice report.
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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch on his Covering The Crew weblog has some notes from last nights "fan forum" where fans got to ask questions of the Crew brass. I hope to find a transcript for you somewhere.
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Steve Davis for MLSnet with the top 5 stories of the week.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports had a column last month and named the top 20 players in MLS, with Shalrie Joseph of New England at the top of the top. This new article goes in to detail on Joseph.
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MLS Preseason Friendlies

This is pretty much the last hurrah for preseason games, and as you can see 11 of the leagues 14 teams are in action and they have some pretty decent challengers lined up:
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Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 22
Chicago v Colorado in Jackson MS
Dallas v Paranaense (Brazil) at PHP
Kansas City v Salt Lake in Norman OK at the Saturn Challenge Cup
Columbus v Isidro Metapan (El Salvador) at Crew Stadium
Richmond (USL 2nd Div) v DC at University of Richmond Stadium
Chivas USA v Real Espana (Honduras) at Cal State Fullerton's Titan Stadium
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Carolina Challenge Cup

Preseason Tournament March 15-22 in Charleston South Carolina
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Team standings after 2 or 3 rounds:
6 San Jose Earthquakes - winner!
2 New York Red Bulls
1 Charleston Battery
1 Toronto FC
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Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 15
San Jose 1-0 Toronto - lightning shortened the game to 77 minutes.
New York 1-1 Charleston - weather caused them to move the game to Sunday.
-Wed Mar 19
New York 1-1 Toronto
San Jose 2-1 Charleston
-Sat Mar 22
Toronto v Charleston
San Jose v New York
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Charleston Battery - host team website.
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USL Second Division News

Real Maryland has signed Christian Gomez's younger brother Pablo.
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Team USA

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

Official team blog.
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CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying

The 2 semifinal winners have now qualified for the Olympics in Beijing later this summer.
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Semifinal Matches & Scores (both games at LP Field in Nashville TN):
-Thu Mar 20
Guatemala 0-0 Honduras - Hon adv 6-5 on PKs.
USA 3-0 Canada - USA goals by Freddy Adu(2) & Sacha Kljestan.
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report from the Tennessean of Nashville.
Match report from Yanks Abroad.
Post game analysis & players ratings by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Post game analysis by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Post game analysis by Robert Wagman of Soccer Times.
Post game quotes from USA coach & players from US Soccer.
Game photos from US Soccer.
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Final Match & Score (all games at LP Field in Nashville TN):
-Sun Mar 23
USA v Honduras
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to Jozy Altidore about the bruising game he had.
-More player and coach reactions from Lewis.
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Then Lewis looks ahead to Sunday's final v Honduras. How will coach Nowak play this one. I bet he has a very different lineup than last night.
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Soccer In America

Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer gives us his view from the big gala fund raiser in New York for the Harlem Youth Soccer assoc. Good quotes from stars galore.
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Americans In Europe

Midweek Games-
Thu Mar 20:
-Joe Enochs - Osnabruck - 2-1 loss at St Pauli.
-Will John - Randers - was on the bench but did not play in a 0-0 match at Aarhus.
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - started and went 70 minutes of a goalless game at Aarhus.
-Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - 1-1 home draw with Kickers Offenbach.
-Robbie Russell - Viborg - did not suit up for his teams 3-2 loss at home to Nordsjaelland.
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - came on in the 40th minute of a scoreless home match v Randers.
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CONCACAF Champions Cup

Quarterfinals - 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue Mar 18
DC 5-0 Harbour View - DC advance 6-1 on aggregate. - DC goals by Devon McTavish(2), Luciano Emilio(2) & Fred.
-Wed Mar 19
Pachuca 1-0 Motagua - Pach adv 1-0 on agg. - Pach goal by Luis Montes.
Houston 3-1 Municipal - Hou adv 3-1 on agg. - Hou goals by Dwayne De Rosario(2) & Chris Wondolowski. Mun goal by Pando Ramirez.
-Thu Mar 20
Saprissa 3-0 Atlante - Sap adv 4-2 on agg. (Alt suffered 2 own goals in this loss!)
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Semifinals - 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 1
Pachuca v DC
-wed Apr 2
Houston v Saprissa
Semifinals - 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Wed Apr 9
DC v Pachuca
Saprissa v Houston
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NOTE: There is no away-goals tie breaker used in this tournament.
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Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 18
Audax Italiano 1-0 Atletico Nacional - Aud goal by Fabian Orellana.
Estudiantes 2-0 Danubio - Estu goals by Juan Sebastian Veron(PK) & Leandro Desabato.
Caracas 1-1 Cruzeiro - Cara goal by Juan David Valencia. Cruz goal by Marcelo Moreno(PK).
-Wed Mar 19
San Jose 2-1 Santos San J goals by Luis Cerutti & Luis Garcia. Sant goal by Kleber Pereira.
Flamengo 2-0 Nacional - Flam goals both by Marcinho.
Libertad 1-2 Fluminense - Flum goals both by Washington. Lib goal by Juan Samudio.
-Thu Mar 20
Deportivo Cuenca 1-1 Lanus - Cue goal by Jhon Garcia. Lan goal by Sebastian Salomon.
Sportivo Luqueno 1-1 Sao Paulo - Luq goal by Adriano Duarte. Sao goal by Aloisio.
Colo Colo 2-0 Boca Juniors - Colo goals by Cristobal Jorquera & Gustavo Biscayzacu.
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Group Stage Standings
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European News

What a great weekend for the teams at the top in England. A lot could change in just one day.
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Only 5 games to go this season in Holland.
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Euro League Cup Competitions

-Copa Del Rey-
Final Match & Score:
-April 16
Getafe v Valencia
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Big Euro Club Matches This Weekend

Scores & Matches:
-Sat Mar 22
Inter v Juventus - derby d’Italia
Sevilla v Atletico Madrid - #5 v #4 battling it out for the last Champions League spot.
-Sun Mar 23
Manchester United v Liverpool - #1 v #4
Chelsea v Arsenal - #3 v #2
Sparta v Feyenoord - the Rotterdam derby
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World Cup 2010 - South Africa News

Many World Cup qualifiers coming up next Wednesday, along with a giant list of friendlies.