Triple Hoop Jump News

When that Champions League game ended on Tuesday, I sat there on my couch and the only thought that entered my mind was this: Did I just watch Barcelona throw the game?!?!? How else do you explain all that talent, making so many bad passes, and creating so few actual deadly chances on goal? And you know what, when I woke up this morning, I thought to myself, could that happen? Because as dumb as the idea was yesterday, it didn't go away today.

~and~

The US Open Cup kicks off tonight in Salt Lake City for MLS teams in the qualifying rounds. See section below for details.

~and~

Greg Lalas of Goal.com calls the TV commentator duo of Sean Wheelock & Bruce Arena... "the most bizarre pairing since Flavor Flav and Brigette Nielsen got together." Genius! See MLS General news section below for Lalas's column.

~and~

And the CONCACAF Champions Cup ends tonight with the 2nd leg from Mexico. Again see the section below.


UEFA Champions League

Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Apr 29
Manchester United 1-0 Barcelona - Man U advance 1-0 on aggregate - goal by Paul Scholes.
-Wed Apr 30
Chelsea 3-2 Liverpool - Chelsea advance 4-3 on aggregate after extra time - Chel goals by Frank Lampard(PK) & Didier Drogba(2). Liv goals by & Ryan Babel.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Marcela Mora y Araujo, hopefully a future girlfriend of mine, of the Guardian returns to Spain to talk to Jorge Valdano who last year compared Chelsea v Liverpool to "some shit hanging on a stick." What does he think now?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Richard Williams of the Guardian says All Hail Paul Scholes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times breaks down the key ManU v Barca matchups and rates the players from both teams.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeffrey Marcus of the New York Times on the Goal blog does a Q & A with former great player Gianluca Vialli about the CL.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Open Cup

Some MLS teams will have to play-off against each other to qualify.
1st of 2 Rounds - Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 30
Salt Lake v San Jose - winner plays at Columbus in 2nd round of qualifying.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News previews the game tonight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Salt Lake is wearing a special green shirt in this game to promote Earth Day and environmental awareness. Here's a picture from the teams official blog - Behind the Shield.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF Champions Cup

Final
2nd Leg Match & Score (1st leg score included):
-Wed Apr 30
Pachuca v Saprissa (1-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com previews tonight's match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Scoreboard

Week 6
Matches & Scores:
-Thu May 1
Toronto v New York - 6pm central on ESPN2
-Sat May 3
New England v Chicago - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Columbus v Kansas City - 6:30pm central on FSC
Houston v Chivas USA - 7:30pm central on HDNet
Salt Lake v Los Angeles - 8pm central on Direct Kick
San Jose v Dallas 9pm central on Direct Kick
-Sun May 4
Colorado v DC - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Out suspended this week:
-Eddie Robinson - Houston - 3rd of 3 games
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet previews Toronto v New York.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

If John Thorrington can play well on a consistent basis, maybe Chris Rolfe can get healthy and replace Chad Barrett up top. How good would that make Chicago? Pretty damn good I'd say.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Orrin Schwarz of the Daily Herald with an article on Thorrington.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Most of the Chicago papers have stories today on the signing of Lider Marmol - Tribune - Sun Times - Southtown Star.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave has more Marmol notes on his blog The Red Card.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Pat Walsh of Goal.com on the leagues top team - Columbus. It's almost shocking to type that, but I like it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

Forward Grandpa Doe got his work visa approved and is all set to play now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Team owner Oscar de la Hoya will wearing team colors when he fights this coming weekend at the Home Depot Center!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Chronicle on his Soccer y Futbol blog asks the question - Why not use midfielder Corey Ashe's speed up top?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Bob Luder of the KC Star looks at the all the former Wizards in management positions these days.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Kristian Dyer of Soccernet with an article on Red Bulls prodigy Matt Kassel.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brian Lewis of the New York Post on the Extra Time blog with the latest notes from Redbulltown.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Greg Lalas at Goal.com with his 3-5-2 column: 3 surprises, 5 reasons & 2 players.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports gives us his Top 10 most over/under paid players in the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Brazil v Venezuela match at Gillette Stadium on June 6 will be a double header with New England v Dallas. Cool.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Jozy Altidore is being watched closely by Villarreal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Columbus will play a friendly against West Ham after the MLS All-Star game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Stadium Talk

You just new this one was coming sooner or later:
The Deseret Morning News in Salt Lake City says that some of the public stadium funding for Real Salt Lake has run into trouble!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

Former New York Cosmos coach Gordon Bradley passed away yesterday due to complications from Alzheimer's. Very sad. RIP.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Word from the English tabloids is that Jay DeMerit and Watford coach Aidy Boothroyd are no longer seeing eye-to-eye and JDM will be out the door when the transfer window opens.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

FIFA.com with a profile of Club America's powerful Paraguayan striker Salvador Cabanas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Graciela Resendiz of Soccernet rounds up the Primera with one week left to go before the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I believe the playoffs or Liguilla work like this - the league is split into 3 groups and the winners of each get in, then the next 10 play home and away to leave 5 to join the 3. Those 8 play home and away all the way to the final series.
-Right now the 3 leaders are: Toluca, Santos Laguna & Guadalajara.
-And the next 10 are: Cruz Azul, San Luis, Chiapas, Necaxa, Monterrey, Pachuca, Puebla, Atlas, UNAM & Atlante.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Someone please set me straight if I am wrong about this system.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

Round of 16, 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 29
LDU Quito 2-0 Estudiantes - LDU goals by Joffre Guerron & Damian Manso.
Lanus 0-1 Atlas - Atl goal by Bruno Marioni.
-Wed Apr 30
Atletico Nacional v Fluminense
Nacional v Sao Paulo
Boca Juniors v Cruzeiro
America v Flamengo
San Lorenzo v River Plate
-Thu May 1
Santos v Cucuta Deportivo
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Second leg matches will be played next week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

The Guardian with an article on the court jester of Bolton -Ivan Campo. They are the first ones besides myself to refer to him as a long lost Marx brother - Campo Marx. Fantastic article!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Reuters with the kind of story you don't see often - Roma fans WANT the teams owners to sell the team to American billionaire George Soros.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Earth Times is reporting that a player for Polish club LKS Lodz wore an anti-Jewish shirt, directed at the rival team, after a big derby match last week. The player said he is not a racist. Just great.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CSKA Sofia have won the Bulgarian league championship.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup

Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Thu May 1
Bayern Munchen v Zenit (1-1)
Fiorentina v Rangers (0-0)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Final will be played May 14 in Manchester at the City of Manchester Stadium.

Up Down Turn Around Please Don't Let Me Hit The Ground News

I found another new team to champion: FC Vova of Vilnius Lithuania [FIXED]. Love Football & Hate Fascism is their battle cry! (thanks to Andrew for this one & to Jonah for the correction)


UEFA Champions League

Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Apr 29
Manchester United v Barcelona (0-0) - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
-Wed Apr 30
Chelsea v Liverpool (1-1) - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Scoreboard

Week 6
Matches & Scores:
-Thu May 1
Toronto v New York - 6pm central on ESPN2
-Sat May 3
New England v Chicago - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Columbus v Kansas City - 6:30pm central on FSC
Houston v Chivas USA - 7:30pm central on HDNet
Salt Lake v Los Angeles - 8pm central on Direct Kick
San Jose v Dallas 9pm central on Direct Kick
-Sun May 4
Colorado v DC - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Out suspended this week:
-Eddie Robinson - Houston - 3rd of 3 games
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

du Nord MLS Player Of The Week

Joe Franchino - Los Angeles
I know some people are going to think I am an idiot for this one, and I admit I kinda think that myself, but without Joey watching their backs Donovan and Beckham could never have taken Chivas USA apart. Franchino played like a veteran possessed. He had one role and that was to interrupt the CUSA attack before it began, and then have the calm to make the right pass springing his teammates going the other way. And he did all this with out Nick Garcia style cheap shot tactics. Oddly he played it more like Michael Parkhurst and anticipated the Goats moves before they themselves did. I can't tell you how strange it feels to sitting here writing heaps of praise for a guy that I have used as an example on countless occasions to say: We will know MLS has truly arrived when guys with little skill like Joe Franchino can't get on a roster any more. For this week at least, I am dead wrong. It nearly tortures me to write all this but a big congrats to JF on a fresh start in LA, and one hell of a derby game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Amado Guevara & Landon Donovan had the most high profile weeks, and will get all the votes for POTW from responsible authorities around the country. Deservedly so.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

The tug of war drama is over! The Fire has signed defender Lider Marmol. He was wanted badly by New York, but Chicago held his rights and vowed to fight for him. They won. And they held there ground when another defender Wilman Conde wanted to fly the coop to New York as well. Good for them. Is this guy any good?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

I finally got to see the video replay of a Yellow Card given to Arturo Alvarez for taking a dive in the box. Great call! This is the kinda thing that gives the game a really bad name among non-fans - diving! I wonder if I could file a civil suit against every diver?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog has a couple of quotes from coach Tom Soehn as the team prepares to play Colorado.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Chronicle on the still winless Dynamo.
-But they got their MLS Cup winning rings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Bob Luder of the KC Star with a story on rookie Roger Espinoza and his native Honduras.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Nick Green of the LA Daily News on the Becks & Lando Show.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports writes about Donovan's current power surge. Imagine where he would be if he put away a couple more of those easy one's he has missed this season!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com with an article on new league bad-ass Landon Donovan. I think he like the Hulk, but without the green part.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with an article on Wells Thompson who's season is just now getting going after an injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger talks to Mike Magee about FINALLY getting back on the field, and then scoring a goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Desert Morning News on the papers RSL blog gives us a stadium construction update.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Nigel Reed at the CBC sings the praises of 3 in a row.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

For the 2nd week in a row, MLS has named Landon Donovan as Player Of The Week. You can fully expect him to win Player of The Month for April as well when that is announced next week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Bradley gives us his best MLS "duo's" of all time on his First XI column.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Graig Carbino at the US National Soccer Players Assoc has a Q & A with former player turned TV commentator turned coach turned TV commentator again John Harkes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Open Cup

Some MLS teams will have to play-off against each other to qualify.
1st of 2 Rounds - Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 30
Salt Lake v San Jose - winner plays at Columbus in 2nd round of qualifying.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Scoreboard

This latest First & Second Division Team of the Week honorees.
-Stephen de Roux of my team the Thunder made the list.
-Takayuki Suzuki of Portland was named USL1D Player of the Week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Fri May 2
Charleston v Rochester
Puerto Rico v Montreal
Atlanta v Seattle
-Sun May 4
Minnesota v Rochester
Miami v Carolina
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 News

The USA U20 team is heading to England to play a trio of games against the reserves teams of some big English clubs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 7
Bolton Reserves v USA
-Thu May 8
Manchester United Reserves v USA
-Sat May 10
Liverpool Reserves v USA
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here is the roster:
G:
Bill Hamid - DC United
Brian Perk - UCLA
D:
Kyle Davies - Southampton
Greg Eckhardt - Clemson U
Taylor Kemp - Real Colorado
Ike Opara - Wake Forest U
Zarek Valentin - IMG Academy
Sheanon Williams - U North Carolina
M:
Jose Altamirano - Del Mar Sharks
Richard Balchan - Indiana U
Jorge Flores - Chivas USA
Matt Kassel - New York Red Bulls
Derek Markheim - Ameins
Alfredo Morales - Hertha Berlin
F:
Steven Cabas - Florida International U
Felix Garcia - Laredo Heat
Peri Marosevic - U Michigan
Billy Schuler - U North Carolina
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

Brazil is becoming the next Mexico and scheduling more of their friendlies right here in the USA. They played 2 in the States last year and now have line up a May 31 match v Canada at Qwest Field in Seattle and Jun 6 v Venezuela back in Foxborough at Gillette Stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise with the latest on the Cuban defectors trying to catch on with a pro team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF Champions Cup

Final
2nd Leg Match & Score (1st leg score included):
-Wed Apr 30
Pachuca v Saprissa (1-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

Reports from Europe say that Mexico has been snubbed by Ronald Koeman when he was offered their national team coaching job last week. Wow, we could have been really lucky if that bum had been hired. Are they really having that hard of time finding a coach? Not so different from the USA then.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

Round of 16, 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 30
Atletico Nacional v Fluminense
Nacional v Sao Paulo
Lanus v Atlas
Boca Juniors v Cruzeiro
America v Flamengo
Santos v Cucuta Deportivo
San Lorenzo v River Plate
LDU Quito v Estudiantes
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Second leg matches will be played on May 7.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

All reports say Manchester City coach Sven Goran Erickson is about to be fired.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul Doyle of the Guardian makes the case "for" and "against" Erickson.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian raaaaaaaaaves about Bayern star Franck Ribery.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

La Gazzetta with an early preview of the Milan derby coming up this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at the title races as we near the end of the big Euro league seasons.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian looks into the factors that have brought Steaua Bucharest to the top of the Romanian league - religion, politics, scandal, corruption, the usual.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ben Lyttleton of the Guardian shows us the money-man behind the rise of Lille.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup

Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Thu May 1
Bayern Munchen v Zenit (1-1)
Fiorentina v Rangers (0-0)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Final will be played May 14 in Manchester at the City of Manchester Stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog links us to a very cool new Nike "POV" style ad. I hear it was made by Guy Ritchie.

Is It Really Real News

MLS Scoreboard

Week 5
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 24
Dallas 0-1 New England - NE goal by Khano Smith.
Attendance: 10,453
-Sat Apr 26
Toronto 2-0 Kansas City - Tor goals both by Amado Guevara
Attendance: 20,045
Match Report by Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail.
Match Report by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Match Report by Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun.
Match Report from the KC Star.
Post game analysis of Amado Guevara by Campbell.
Post game analysis by Millson.
Columbus 1-0 Houston - Colu goal by Alejandro Moreno
Attendance: 15,271
Match Report from the Columbus Dispatch.
Post game notes from the Dispatch.
Post game notes, in quality and quantity, by Steve Sirk on the Crew website.
DC 4-1 Salt Lake - DC goals by Jaime Moreno(2 PKs), Santino Quaranta & Marcello Gallardo. RSL goal by Carey Talley.
Attendance: 23,269
Match Report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match Report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Match Report from the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match Report from the Deseret Morning News.
Post game notes from the Deseret Morning News's Real Salt Lake blog.
Post game notes from Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner on his blog The Pitch.
Post game notes and DC player ratings from Goff on his Soccer Insider blog.
Chicago 2-1 Colorado - Chic goals both by John Thorrington. Colo goal by Tam McManus.
Attendance: 14,251
Match Report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match Report by Len Zeihm of the Chicago Sun Times.
Match Report by Nick Firchau of Chicago's Southtown Star.
Match report from the Denver Post.
Post game analysis by Orrin Schwarz of Chicago's Daily Herald.
Post game notes by Arroyave on his blog The Red Card.
Los Angeles 5-2 Chivas USA - LA goals by Landon Donovan(3) & Alan Gordon(2). Chiv goals by Sacha Kljestan & Ante Razov.
Attendance: 27,000
Match Report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match Report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match Report by Scott Wolf of the LA Daily News.
Post game analysis, aka Preki's anti-Donovan hissy fit, from the Press Enterprise.
Post game notes by Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his 100 Percent Soccer.
-Sun Apr 27
New York 2-0 San Jose - NY goals by Mike Magee(PK) & Jozy Altidore.
Attendance: 9,053
Match Report by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Match Report by Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
Match Report by Brian Lewis of the New York Post.
Match report by Dylan Butler for the San Jose Mercury News.
Post game notes by Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives.
Post game notes by B Lewis on his blog Extra Time.
Post game video interviews with NY coach & players on teams official blog Red Bulls Reader.
Post game quotes by NY coach from Big Apple Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Out suspended this past week:
-Eddie Robinson - Houston - 2nd of 3 games
-Mauricio Castro - New England - 1 game
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

No less than FIVE players had multi-goal games in a very exciting weekend"
-Landon Donovan - 3 goals in LA's bit derby win.
-Alan Gordon - 2 goals for La in their win over Chivas USA.
-Jaime Moreno - 2 goals for DC in a winning effort, both on Penalty Kicks, and brings his all time league leading goal tally to 115.
-Amado Guevara - 2 goals for Toronto to secure a win and become the first multi-goal scorer ever for TFC, not to mention a 3 game winning streak!
-John Thorrington - 2 goals to propel Chicago to a home win over Colorado. Remember when he was a prodigy just waiting to explode and become a USA hero? Could it still happen?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
12 Columbus
10 Chicago
10 New England
10 Kansas City
9 Toronto
7 New York
6 DC
Western Conference
8 Dallas
7 Los Angeles
6 Colorado
4 Chivas USA
4 Salt Lake
3 San Jose
3 Houston
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Blanco throws out the first pitch at the White Sox game. Pic stolen from the Red Card blog. Nice pointy shoes!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

My fave MLS coach Sigi Schmid won his 100th game league game this weekend. Go Big Sig Go!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch with an article on the poor attendance record at Crew Stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

The Times of London with a feature story on LA coach Ruud Gullit. It's not all roses & pretty puppies.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales at Soccernet on the Donovan-Beckham duo. They have been nothing short of amazing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

George Vecsey of the New York Times chimes in on why most in the NY-NJ area don't know about or care about the NYRBs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stefan Bondy at the Herald News with an article on goalkeeper Jon Conway, grandson of comedian Tim Conway - bet you didn't know that.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The last time Mike Magee scored a goal was July 22, 2006. Good to see him back healthy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated on the return of El Lobo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morgan Campbell of the Star on his Toronto FC Blog talks to rookie defender Julius James, and a couple other notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Campbell in the Star writes about striker Jeff Cunningham and his lack of playing time with the first team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Star has an article on a transit striker that caused TFC to get its own buses for fans.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The National Post with an article on keeper Greg Sutton who is finally recovered from a concussion he suffered in the middle of last season. Post on Friday, but I missed it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Simon Kuper at the Financial Times sits down to chat with Donald B Garber. There is nothing us die-hards don't already know here, but its great to see this story in a such an important European newspaper.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com has an article written by Colorado defender Kelly Gray in which he tells us how he would run the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at Soccernet gives us 10 important things from this past weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on his blog Soccer y Futbol rounds up all the weekend action.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider with a recap of the MLS weekend - The Good, The Bad & The Coyote Ugly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mike Woitalla of Soccer America reviews the weekends games by the key numbers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com reviews the weekends action.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Scoreboard

My Thunder pulled off a great one on Saturday night, winning 0-1 in Vancouver, a place where they had not gotten 3 points since 1997!!!! Fantastic!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Apr 25
Puerto Rico 0-2 Miami
Atlanta 3-2 Montreal
-Sat Apr 26
Carolina 1-0 Charleston
Portland 2-0 Seattle
Vancouver 0-1 Minnesota
Match report from the Vancouver Sun
Match report from Vancouver Whitecaps website
Match report from Minnesota Thunder website
-Sun Apr 27
Puerto Rico 3-1 Miami
-Fri May 2
Charleston v Rochester
Puerto Rico v Montreal
Atlanta v Seattle
-Sun May 4
Minnesota v Rochester
Miami v Carolina
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Standings

9 Portland (3)
4 Atlanta (4)
4 Carolina (4)
4 Miami (4)
3 Minnesota (2)
3 Vancouver (2)
3 Montreal (3)
3 Puerto Rico (3)
2 Charleston (2)
1 Seattle (1)
0 Rochester (0)
(number of games played)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Soccer365 has a Q & A with Jay DeMerit at Watford - will they get promoted again?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How'd their weekend matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - did not dress for a 2-0 home win over Belenenses.
-Bryan Arguez - Hertha Berlin - did not dress for a 2-2 draw at Hannover.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - 2-2 at Borussia Monchengladbach
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - on the bench for a huge come from behind 2-3 win at Manchester City.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - season is over, and the Champions League play offs start next weekend.
-Adin Brown - Aalesunds - went the distance but lost 2-1 at Bodo Glimt.
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - lost 2-1 at Djurgardens
-Dan Califf - Aalborg - went the distance and won at home 1-0 over Horsens.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the whole match and drew 2-2 at home with Hertha Berlin.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - did not dress for a 0-0 draw at Wigan.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - went the full 90 but lost 1-0 at Trelleborgs.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - went all 90 and they won 2-3 at Man City.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - back on the field and went 90 but lost 0-1 at home to Scunthorpe.
-Joe Enochs - Osnabruck - lost at home 1-2 to Mainz
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - came off the bench in the 60th minute to help his team get destroyed 2-6 by Arsenal.
-Gabriel Ferrari - Sampdoria - did not play in a 2-2 draw at Fiorentina.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - went the distance as always and got a nice road win 0-1 at Portsmouth.
-Cory Gibbs - Charlton - did not dress for a loss at Barnsley 3-0.
-Clarence Goodson - Start - played all 90 and won 0-2 at Sparta.
-Joshua Grenier - Koblenz - lost at Paderborn 3-2
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - got a clean sheet 0-0 at Wigan.
-Tally Hall - Esbjerg - lost at Copenhagen 2-1
-Tim Howard - Everton - played the whole match but were tied 2-2 at home by Aston Villa.
-Nate Jaqua - Rheindorf Altach - went the full match and scored a goal in a 1-1 draw at home to Salzburg.
-Eddie Johnson - Fulham - was not on the bench for a 2-3 win at Man City.
-Kasey Keller - Fulham - in goal again as they came back and won 2-3 at Manchester City.
-Joseph Lapira - Nybergsund - play Sandefjord at home on Monday.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - played all 90 of a 2-6 beatdown at the hands of Arsenal.
-Clint Mathis - Ergotolis - the season ended with them 1 point above the relegation zone!
-Brian McBride - Fulham - started and went 70 in the great 2-3 win at Man City.
-Jay Needham - Alta - won 1-0 at home over Haugesund.
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - started but came off at half time and his replacement scored twice in a 4-1 home win over 4-1 Aarhus.
-Pat Noonan - Aalesunds - came on in the 74th minute of a 2-1 loss at Bodo Glimt.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - went all 90 a week after they won the leagues title, and they ruined a perfect season by losing 2-1 at Charleroi.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - came on as a sub in the 39th minute, but lost 2-1 at Energie Cottbus.
-Matt Pickens - Queens Park Rangers - did not make the bench and the team lost at Norwich 3-0.
-Troy Perkins - Valerenga - played all 90 and won 2-3 on the road at Viking.
-Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - won 2-1 at home over Alemania Aachen
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - still injured and did not play, but the team won 3-1 at Leicester City.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - did not dress for a 2-2 tie at home against Newcastle.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - won 1-2 on the road over Osnabruck
-Danny Szetela - Brescia - 0-0 at home with Treviso
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - lost 2-1 at Djurgardens
-Brian Waltrip - Molde - came on as a 63rd minute sub of a 0-0 home draw against Stromsgodset.
-Cam Weaver - Haugesund - played all 90 minutes but lost at home 0-1 to Alta.
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - did not dress for a 0-0 draw at Lyn.
-Quentin Westberg - Troyes - on the bench for a 2-2 home draw with Boulogne.
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - did not dress for a 4-1 loss at Randers.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - 2-2 at Borussia Monchengladbach
-Sal Zizzo - Hannover - not on the bench for a 2-2 draw at home with Hertha Berlin.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans in Mexico

Luis Bueno of Sideline Views updates us on our guys in the Premiera.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bueno also gives us some info on even more Americans in the 2nd division in Mexico.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF Champions Cup

Final
2nd Leg Match & Score (1st leg score included):
-Wed Apr 30
Pachuca v Suprissa (1-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

Round of 16, 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 30
Atletico Nacional v Fluminese
Nacional v Sao Paulo
Lanus v Atlas
Boca Juniors v Cruzeiro
America v Flamengo
Santos v Cucuta Deportivo
San Lorenzo v River Plate
LDU Quito v Estudiantes
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Second leg matches will be played on May 7.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Not surprisingly at all, the professional football players of England named Cristiano Ronaldo as the best this season. Was their even a runner up?
-And here is the winning Best XI:
G:
David James - Portsmouth
D:
Bacara Sagna - Arsenal
Rio Ferdinand - Manchester United
Nemanja Vidic - Manchester United
Gael Clichy - Arsenal
M:
Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United
Steven Gerrard - Liverpool
Cesc Fabregas - Arsenal
Ashley Young - Aston Villa
F:
Emmanuel Adebayor - Arsenal
Fernando Torres - Liverpool
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Very exciting times at the top of the charts in England where #2 Chelsea beat #1 Manchester United to pull level at 81 points. Man U has a much better goal differential, which is the first tie breaker, so they will have to screw up even more to lose the title. I love the drama.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tottenham has signed Croatian midfielder Luka Modric. Seems like every team in England was chasing after him, but I think the only reason they knew about him was because he made the English national team look so bad in the 2 Euro qualifiers against Croatia. Hahahaha. Saps.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Sunday Times has an article on Fulham's odd looking but super talented midfielder Jimmy Bullard. He reminds me of a throw back to the 70's & 80's.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with Ryan Giggs of Manchester United, where the fans asked the questions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Super Pippo Inzaghi got a hat trick against Livorno which gives him 8 in the past 3 games!!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sport Magazine has a Q & A with Ronaldinho!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sid Lowe at the Guardian tells us about a notorious hussy who is helping a struggling striker get his game together.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian looks at Fiorentina trying to hold off Milan for the final Champions League spot in Italy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil Ball at Soccernet takes us to Deportivo la Coruna and their slight return to good form.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Football Italia with all the highlights from Week 35 in Serie A.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League

Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Apr 29
Manchester United v Barcelona (0-0) - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
-Wed Apr 30
Chelsea v Liverpool (1-1) - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Lawton at the Independent says Cristiano Ronaldo owes his coach an amazing performance in the Champions League.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Samuel of The Times says that if you plan on going to the CL final in Moscow, then be prepared to be financially gouged beyond your wildest imagination.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup

Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Thu May 1
Bayern Munchen v Zenit (1-1)
Fiorentina v Rangers (0-0)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Final will be played May 14 in Manchester at the City of Manchester Stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro League Cup Competitions

KNVB Beker Final
-Sun Apr 27
Feyenoord Rotterdam 2-0 Roda JC Kerkrade
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro Club Matches This Weekend

Big Euro Matches This Weekend:
Chelsea 2-1 Manchester United - now all even at 81 points but Man U has the advantage on goal differential.
Hamburg 0-1 Schalke - the win puts Schalke 6 points ahead in the battle for the final Champions League spot in Germany.
Galatasaray 1-0 Fenerbahce - Gala take a 3 point lead over Fener with 2 games left.
Celtic 3-2 Rangers - the Old Firm derby - Celtic now lead by 5 points but Rangers have 3 games in hand.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two teams tried win big Euro leagues this weekend - and while neither Inter or Real Madrid clinched, they didn't stumble either, and next weekend will be that much closer to the end. Here is how the matches went:
-Serie A - now with 3 games to play:
Inter 2-1 Cagliari - Inter 81 points
Roma 4-1 Torino - Roma 75 points
-La Liga - now with 4 games left to play:
Real Madrid 3-0 Athletic Bilbao - Real 75 points
Real Betis 0-1 Villarreal - Villa 65 points
Deportivo La Coruna 2-0 Barcelona - Barca 61 points

Humans Race News

MLS Scoreboard

Week 5
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 24
Dallas 0-1 New England - NE goal by Khano Smith.
Match report by Diego Aparicio.
Match report from the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Post game notes & analysis from Dell'apa.
Post game video of FCD coach & player comments from FC Dallas Updates.
-Sat Apr 26
Toronto v Kansas City - 2:30pm central on Direct Kick
Columbus v Houston - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
DC v Salt Lake - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Chicago v Colorado - 7:30pm central on HDNet
Los Angeles v Chivas USA 9:30pm central on FSC
-Sun Apr 27
New York v San Jose - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Out suspended this week:
-Eddie Robinson - Houston - 2nd of 3 games
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Khano Smith scored New England's goal on one of the ugliest shots I have ever seen. That guy has no right foot at all, and yet somehow scored a goal with it. Great for him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave on his blog The Red Card says that the Fire still have no deal with defender Lider Marmol.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Denver Post with an article on Blanco, who leads the Fire into the Mile High City this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CD CHIVAS USA

Signed defender Dan Gargan formerly of Colorado. His season was cut short last year by a knee injury. He mostly plays rightback.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLORADO RAPIDS

Steve Pastorino at the US National Soccer Players Assoc writes about the success the Rapids senior team is having integrating players off their 2 reserve league champions teams from the past 2 seasons.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

American Soccer News with a story on a DC team meeting with a back-to-basics theme.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner says DC United has been preparing heavily this week to get their season on the proper track.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Andrea Canales on the Sideline Views blog has some more quotes from new Galactite Joe Franchino. The main article is in yesterdays du Nord post.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Dylan Butler of Big Apple Soccer with an article on Juan Pablo Angel's injury - it's not his hamstring - its a degenerating lower back nerve problem.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Claudio Reyna is the guest blogger today at the Herald News.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News with an article on coach Jason Kreis who is getting hammered for his style of play last weekend in Toronto.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Edwards also reports that forward Fabian Espindola would not be going to DC because of a hamstring injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The DMN also has an interview with RSL's new team President Bill Manning.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune talks to RSL coach Jason Kreis about the upgrades the team has made on defending.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

The Sun on TFC going for a new mark - 3 wins in a row.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Molinaro of the CBC on his blog Planet Soccer writes about TFC's new defender Oliver Tebily.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Jeffrey Marcus of the New York Times blog Goal talks some soccer business with MLS boss Donald A Garber. Audio clips included too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports writes about a subject that I have been screaming about for a month now - Hey MLS! Go get Thierry Henry! The time is now! The cost is not that important. He will make it up in jersey and ticket sales.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shaka Hislop at the Guardian with his weekly MLS column.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This one is a bit odd - a newspaper in Washington state called Wenatchee World has an article written by Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star, and I don't ever recall seeing it printed in the Star! It's about the positive upswing in MLS attendance.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at MLSnet gives us 5 things that mattered this week in the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 24
Portland 2-1 Minnesota
Match report from The Oregonian
Match report from the Portland Timbers website.
Match report from the Minnesota Thunder website.
-Fri Apr 25
Puerto Rico v Miami
Atlanta v Montreal
-Sat Apr 26
Carolina v Charleston
Portland v Seattle
Vancouver v Minnesota
-Sun Apr 27
Puerto Rico v Miami
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Our man Brian Costello again contributes to This Is American Soccer with a tribute to just retired Portland Timbers "mascot" Timber Jim! Excellent!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 News

The USA U20 team will be going to England 2 weeks from now to play a trio of games against reserves teams at Bolton (May 7), Manchester United (May 8) and Liverpool (May 10)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 7
Bolton v USA
-Thu May 8
Manchester United v USA
-Sat May 10
Liverpool v USA
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

George Vecsey at the New York Times blog Goal writes about the closing of his favorite spot to watch soccer in Greenwich Village New York City - L’Angolo. They have closed their doors for good, and taken a lot of amazing memories with them. The story also links to several other fantastic stories Vecsey has written. He is one of the best.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

The US National Soccer Players Assoc with an article about Oguchi Onyewu who they say USA fans have a love/hate relationship with. It's real simple, we thought he was superman, but he is mortal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune talks to Jay DeMerit the chances of Watford getting promoted again, and his lack of playing time lately.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccernet has a Q & A with Eddie Lewis of the miserable Derby County Rams, but they mostly talk USA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dan Califf and Lee Nguyen faced off last night in Denmark. Califf's Aalborg beat Randers 3-0. The win puts Aalborg 7 points up on 2nd place Midtjylland, the club where Califf has signed to play for next season. Will John did not suit up for Randers.
Match & Score:
-Thu Apr 24
Aalborg 3-0 Randers
Match report from American Soccer Daily
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans in Mexico

Luis Bueno of Sports Illustrated with a Q & A with young defender Michael Orozco who just helped the USA qualify for the Olympics, and now wants to help his club San Luis do some damage in the upcoming Premiera playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

FIFA.com previews the knock-out rounds that start next week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Jack Bell of the New York Times blog Goal has a Q & A with Michael Owen, striker for Newcastle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fabio Capello has made statements to the press that insinuate that David Bingham could still be in the line up come the 2010 World cup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times wonders how close to getting booted out the door is Chelsea coach Avram Grant.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

The BBC has a video interview with Thierry Henry about Arsenal. Nice.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Reuters Soccer Blog asks if Paolo Maldini, Cafu & Luis Figo should all retire now like they say they will.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Striker Miroslav Klose will not play for Bayern Munich this weekend due to a broken nose.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with an article on the Scottish Premiership which has decided in the past couple of weeks to extend this season. Yes, THIS season. Not next. Why and how can they do this now?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League

Richard Williams of the Guardian takes a dim view of the Liverpool/Chelsea battle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup

Semifinal 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 24
Bayern Munchen 1-1 Zenit - Bay goal by Franck Ribery. Zen goal by Lucio(OG).
Rangers 0-0 Fiorentina
Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Thu May 1
Bayern Munchen v Zenit (1-1)
Fiorentina v Rangers (0-0)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Final will be played May 14 in Manchester at the City of Manchester Stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro League Cup Competitions

KNVB Beker Final
-Sun Apr 27
Feyenoord Rotterdam v Roda JC Kerkrade
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro Club Matches This Weekend

Big Euro Matches This Weekend
-Sat Apr 26
Chelsea v Manchester United - this is it, if Chelsea wins the race is on, but a loss would all but end the season and give the title to Man U.
Hamburg v Schalke - fighting it out for the final Champions League spot.
-Sun Apr 27
Galatasaray v Fenerbahce - HUGER THAN HUGE! The two biggest rivals just happen to be tied at the top with 3 games left to play - how much would you give to be at this game!
Celtic v Rangers - the Old Firm derby - Celtic lead Rangers by 2 points but have 3 games in hand.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two teams can win big Euro leagues this weekend - Inter can claim another scudetto if they win and Roma lose. - AND - Real Madrid can win La Liga if they win and both Villarreal & Barcelona lose. Here are the matches to follow:
-Serie A
Inter v Cagliari on Sunday
Torino v Roma on Sunday
-La Liga
Deportivo La Coruna v Barcelona on Saturday
Real Madrid v Athletic Bilbao on Sunday
Real Betis v Villarreal on Sunday
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

African News

FIFA.com has a Q & A with South Africa team captain Aaron Mokoena about the change of coaches and upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

I Need A Rendezvous News

Can someone out there put me in touch with both Marc Connelly and Max Bretos. Thank you in advance.

~and~

Liverpool coach Rafa Benitez on now famous own goal scorer John Arne Riise: "Riise knows he has to be ready and give everything for us. The best solution would be for him to score at Stamford Bridge... in the right goal." (thanks to John for this gem)


Minnesota Thunder Season Kicks Off Tonight!

My team launches a new season, with renewed hope of returning to the glory days of 1990's when they won nearly everything they could get their mitts around. New Owners, strengthened management team, new badge, new colors, larger player budget. All good signs. Now the only test that matters begins. On the field.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 24
Portland v Minnesota
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Season Previews:
Tim Leighton of the St Paul Pioneer Press
Minneapolis Star Tribune
USL
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Star Tribune has a side article on the teams owners.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You can watch all the First Division games like at www.usloccer.com
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Scoreboard

According to Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe, New England will be without Chris Albright, Jeff Larentowicz & Sainey Nyassi due to injury. That is in addition to injured Taylor Twellman & Steve Ralston and suspended Mauricio Castro. Wow. That is a lot of talent on the outs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And the Dynamic Dallas Duo of Juan Toja (Batman) & Pablo Richetti (Robin) are doubtful for tonight's game. That usually means they will start. Hahahahahahaha.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Week 5
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 24
Dallas v New England - 7:30pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Apr 26
Toronto v Kansas City - 2:30pm central on Direct Kick
Columbus v Houston - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
DC v Salt Lake - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Chicago v Colorado - 7:30pm central on HDNet
Los Angeles v Chivas USA 9:30pm central on FSC
-Sun Apr 27
New York v San Jose - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Out suspended this week:
-Eddie Robinson - Houston - 2nd of 3 games
-Mauricio Castro - New England - 1 game
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet previews the Thursday night ESPN2 game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with New England's prep for tonight's game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald looks at the Rev's depth and how it will be tested again tonight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News with an article on Dallas's quality start to the season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Fort Worth Star Telegram with a story on Dallas forward Kenny Cooper. Since he arrived in Dallas, Cooper has scored 18 goals, and they have won 15 of those and tied 3. That means they don't lose when he scores!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America with an article on the 2 men who will call tonight's game for ESPN2 - JP Dellacamera & John Harkes. Via Sports Illustrated.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Tom Dunmore at Section 8's Backdraft site has a Q & A with Fire defender Bakary Soumare.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CD CHIVAS USA

Grahame Jones of the LA Times on The Goats plan to stop Landy & Becks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beau Dure of USA Today on the upcoming LA grudge-match.
-Dure, on his Netminder blog, has a comment from Jesse Marsch on the 3 recent Cuban defectors who have been training with the team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch on Sigi Schmid's long MLS coaching tenure, as he goes for win #100.
-Mitchell has a bunch of stats and other info on Schmid, on his Covering the Crew blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mitchell also has this great photo on his blog of a Boca Juniors fan wearing a Crew Jersey and gettin rowdy at a match in Buenos Aires.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger also writes about Big Sig.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree with this weeks Dallas practice observations.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

I was listening to the Coach's Corner radio show from Salt Lake City last night and Jason Kries said that word was circulating that Ben Olsen's current ankle injury may end his career. That would not be good. I love Captain Caveman!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post says the start of this season for DCU looks very similar to last year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

American Soccer News with an article on KC keeper Kevin Hartman getting hit by a plastic beer bottle during the game in Chicago last weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

We learn from Grahame Jones of the LA Times that Galaxy midfielder Alvaro Pires is getting paid $110,775 this season. Are you frickin kidding me? This guy? Reason #457 to fire Alexi Lalas. What a joke.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales at Soccer365 talks to Joe Franchino about his move back to LA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The official Galaxy blog has a pic of former USA coach Bora Milutinovic, who stopped by the teams office.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beau Dure of USA Today on the upcoming LA grudge-match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Soccer By Ives with the latest on the search for a new President for the team. Agoos? Really?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer with team updates including Juan Pablo Angel's hamstring injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And Bryan Lewis of the NY Post reports that forward Oscar Echeverry has suffered a knee injury and will be out 4-6 weeks. Plus even more details on JPA's injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stefan Bondy of the Herald News also reports on Angel's thigh muscle mystery.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MetroFanatic had an article last week that I am sorry I missed. They want to know what the point of having a youth team is if they are not going to sign their best players like Johnny Exantus & Matt Kassel to senior
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Times says that RSL coach Kreis is very tempted to unleash the hounds on the road. I say go for it, I would rather watch 4-3 than 1-0 any damn day.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Soccer Spin talks to midfielder Ned Grabavoy about the start to the season with a brand new club.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

TFC finally makes it official in signing former Birmingham City defender Olivier Tebily. He is from Cote d'Ivoire.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Larry Millson of the Globe & Mail with an article on the teams virtually unknown New Zealand midfielder Jarrod Smith.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Star with an article on rookie defender Julius James.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Sun on another rookie defender who has been thrown to the wolves already - Marco Velez.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

US Soccer's MLS Referee Review for Week 4. Here's the podcast to download or listen to online.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Orrin Schwarz of the Chicago Daily Herald with an article on all those guys in MLS without famous names, that only us geeks really appreciate.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Plenty of talk that the owners of TFC as considering buying an English team. But they themselves deny it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Stadium Talk

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with some positive stadium talk for a change. (But it's not about the Dynamo either.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 24
Portland v Minnesota
-Fri Apr 25
Puerto Rico v Miami
Atlanta v Montreal
-Sat Apr 26
Carolina v Charleston
Portland v Seattle
Vancouver v Minnesota
-Sun Apr 27
Puerto Rico v Miami
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A guy named Scott Schneweis, who writes for Metro magazine here in the Twin Cities, got to train with the Minnesota Thunder last fall in the build up to their friendly v LA Galaxy. He tells us all about it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Oregonian with an article on Portland's goalkeeper Ray Burse, who they have on loan from DC Fallas. He is a guy with a lot of talent and potential for the future.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Kasey Keller's name has hit the rumor wire as a potential target for Bayern Munich.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sean O'Connor of American Soccer Daily talks to Watford defender Jay DeMerit on the teams chances of being promoted to the Premiership again this season. For whatever reason JD has seen little of the field in 2008.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer By Ives reports that American keeper Dominic Cervi who recently passed on a contract with Chicago in Glasgow getting a look from Celtic. Very cool.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF Champions Cup

Final
1st Leg Match & Score:
-Wed Apr 23
Suprissa 1-1 Pachuca - Sap goal by Victor Cordero. Pach goal by Luis Gabriel Rey.
2nd Leg Match & Score:
-Wed Apr 30
Pachuca v Suprissa (1-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on his blog Soccer y Futbol with his thoughts from last nights match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF News

The Toronto Star reports that even though the stadium in Toronto is the "home stadium of Canadian National Soccer Teams" the men are going to play their first World Cup qualifier in Montreal. Why? Grass v Fake Stuff. Easy answer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South American News

The Guardian with a story from the Palmeiras v Sao Paolo game, with the lights going out, and pepper spray in the locker room. Great story.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

This ends the Group Stage. The 2 legged knock out phase begins next week!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Apr 22
Colo Colo 1-1 Atlas - Colo goal by Ricardo Rojas. Atl goal by Diego Colotto.
Boca Juniors 3-0 Maracaibo - Boca goals by Gabriel Paletta, Jesus Datolo & Juan Roman Riquelme.
-Apr 23
Sportivo Luqueno 4-1 Audax Italiano - SL goals by Juan Abente(2), Ruben Gigena & Celso Esquivel. AI goal by Carlos Villanueva.
Sao Paulo 1-0 Atletico Nacional - SP goal by Alex Silva.
Flamengo 2-0 Coronel Bolognesi - Flam goals by Bruno & Obina.
Nacional 3-1 Cienciano Nac goals by Martin Liguera, Mathias Cardaccio & Diego Vera. Cien goal by Cristian Guevara.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Flamengo, Nacional, Sao Paulo & Atletico Nacional join Boca Juniors, River Plate, America, Santos, San Lorenzo, Estudiantes, Lanus, Cucuta Deportivo, Atlas, Cruzeiro, Fluminense & LDU Quito as the 16 teams in the knock out rounds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Final Group Stage Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Round of 16, 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 30
Atletico Nacional v Fluminese
Nacional v Sao Paulo
Lanus v Atlas
Boca Juniors v Cruzeiro
America v Flamengo
Santos v Cucuta Deportivo
San Lorenzo v River Plate
LDU Quito v Estudiantes
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Second leg matches will be played on May 7.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

The mother of Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard has passed away after illness and he will not play in this weekends game v Manchester United. RIP.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Liverpool leftback Fabio Aurelio will miss the rest of the season with a torn groin muscle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Hungary has named Dutchman Erwin Koeman as their new national team head coach.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

German 2nd division club Koblenz, with American Joshua Grenier on their roster, will be penalized 8 points at the end of this season for renegotiating 2 player contracts and not reporting them to the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League

Semifinal 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 22
Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea - Liv goal by Dirk Kuyt. Chel goal by John Arne Riise(OG).
-Wed Apr 23
Barcelona 0-0 Manchester United
Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Apr 29
Manchester United v Barcelona (0-0) - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
-Wed Apr 30
Chelsea v Liverpool (1-1) - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Oof. The magic feet of Cristiano Ronaldo let him down yesterday when he botched an early Penalty Kick that could have turned that game on it's head.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

La Gazzetta seems very proud to point out that Man United used good old fashioned Italian catenaccio to hold off Barcelona.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian gives round 1 to Lionel in the CRonald v Messi competition.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Independent gives the nod to Messi as well. Too bad its not worth anything.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Barney Ronay of the Guardian on CRonaldo's stumbling game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the horrible crap that Man U displayed last night, and were successful at, which just encourages other to follow suit. Sad.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup

Semifinal 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 24
Bayern Munchen v Zenit
Rangers v Fiorentina
Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Thu May 1
Bayern Munchen v Zenit (-)
Fiorentina v Rangers (-)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bayern striker Luca Toni is suspended for the 1st leg match due to Yellow Card accumulation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Final will be played May 14 in Manchester at the City of Manchester Stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro Club Matches This Weekend

Two teams can win big Euro leagues this weekend. Here are the matches to watch:
-Inter can claim Serie if they win and Roma lose.
-Serie A-
Inter v Cagliari
Torino v Roma
-Real Madrid can win La Liga if they win and both Villarreal & Barcelona lose.
-La Liga-
Real Madrid v Athletic Bilbao
Villarreal v Real Betis
Barcelona v Deportivo La Coruna
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Teams Still In The Chase For
Titles In Europe's Biggest Leagues

-Premiership-
*35 of 38 games played
81 Manchester United
78 Chelsea
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-La Liga-
*33 of 38 games played
72 Real Madrid
62 Villareal
61 Barcelona
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-Serie A-
*34 of 38 games played
78 Inter Milan
72 Roma
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-Bundesliga-
*29 of 34 games played
63 Bayern Munich
53 Werder Bremen
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-Ligue Un-
*34 of 38 games played
71 Lyon
67 Bordeaux
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World News

Chris Harris aka The Gaffer of the now nearly fabled EPL Talk has listed his Top 10 Sources for Intelligent Football Coverage. It's doesn't completely fall in line with my own, but there are some fantastic sources on his list, and a couple I need to either check out for the first time, or at least re-visit. Thanks Chris, you are one of the best.
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Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune ponders why a country as big as China is so bad at soccer.
-And Zeigler's weekly notes - Trophies, Red Cards & Sidelines.
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Ravi Ubha of the Seattle Post Intelligencer with his weekly world soccer roundup - The Beautiful Game.
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The Road To World Cup 2010 -
South Africa News

GolTV in America has secured the rights to show all of Italy's World Cup qualifiers.