Br-r-r-r-up brup brup brup News

Columbus coach Sigi Schmid after beating DC last night: "I was never worried. There was a German pope in town who gave a German Mass. With me being a German coach, I was never worried at all."

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I saw a great new car commercial last night featuring the USA Women: They all climb into these minivan/car type deals and head off down the road. They are taking foreign language lessons as they drive. Then we see them walk into a stadium, which looks down to see the Brazilian women training. One American woman yells out in Portuguese "We want a rematch", and the Brazilian yells back "Let's Go!" Really good stuff



MLS Scoreboard

Week 4 Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 17
DC 1-2 Columbus - DC goal by Brian Namoff. Colu goals by Alejandro Moreo & Gonzalo Peralta(OG).
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Post game notes & DC player ratings by Goff on his Soccer Insider blog.
Post game notes from Shawn Mitchell at the Columbus Dispatch.
Post game notes by Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner on his blog The Pitch.
Game highlights & post game video interview with Alejandro Moreno from ESPN.
-Sat Apr 19
Toronto v Salt Lake - 11:30am central on Direct Kick
New York v New England - 6:30pm central on HDNet
Colorado v San Jose - 8:30pm central on FSC
Los Angeles v Houston - 9:30pm central on Direct Kick
-Sun Apr 20
Chicago v Kansas City - 2pm central on TeleFutura
Chivas USA v Dallas - 7pm central on Direct Kick
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My thoughts on the game:
-At one point around the 60th minute on last nights game I hit the pause button, rewound and played, over and over again, because I was not sure what I was seeing. I hit pause again and began to count. The camera was perfectly aimed at the Columbus goal and you could see the entire 18 yard box in the frame. DC had 4 attackers in the box, but Columbus had 9 players and the goalkeeper in the box. 9! NINE! That only leaves one other player somewhere up field.
-How about the Jesus hair on those two outside backs for Columbus - Hejduk & Padula - true old school hair farmers!
-Luciano Emilio looks really slow out there. Remember when he complained about not getting a bump in salary after having a great season this year. I wonder if he is on a subliminal slow down strike.
-The announcers JP Dellacamera & John Harkes are pretty good. And they work well together.
-Oh, and JP, it's William Hesmer, not Will. Just ask him.
-Columbus looked as good as any Sigi Schmid team will. No there are no pretty. But they are effective. Like LA in 2002.
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Beau Dure of USA Today pulled off quite a feat last night on his blog The Netminder. He tracked every touch from both Gallardo & Schelotto. Every single touch. See the results here. Wow.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet previews the weekend matches (the second half of the article).
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Out suspended this weekend:
-Eddie Robinson - Houston - 1st of 3 games
-Sacha Kljestan - Chivas USA - 1 game
-Francesco Mendoza - Chivas USA - 1 game
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune says forward Andy Herron is going to work his hardest to get into the Fire first 11.
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Arroyave on his Red Card blog gives us a little update on the pathetic tug-of-war that Chicago and New York are playing with the career of Lider Marmol.
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COLORADO RAPIDS

Brian Forbes at the Denver Post with an article on local boy Stephen Keel who had to make the team the hard way - an open tryout, and has now become a solid promising starter.
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FC DALLAS

FC Dallas Updates has a really cool photo of a new kit from their Brazilian partner team Atletico Paranaense - the news new third kit is a tribute to FCD!
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe talks to Rev's star defender Michael Parkhurst about the game in the Meadowlands this weekend.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

It is looking like striker Juan Pablo Angel should be ready to go against New England on Saturday night.
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Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer with his notes, thoughts and opinions on several NYRB & related topics - The Offside Remarks.
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The Herald News soccer blog called The International Fixture has words from Claudio Reyna about MLS's place in the world and new coach Juan Carlos Osorio.
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REAL SALT LAKE

Great video from AYL Soccer with both Ian Joy & Kenny Deuchar answering the same questions - split screen style. Always a great feature, and with these two guys its even better than usual.
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James Edward of the Deseret Morning News with an article on RSL's young midfielder Nathan Sturgis who got the start last weekend and made the coach look brilliant with his performance.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Brain Forbes of the Denver Post with an article on Colorado Springs native & Equakes defender James Riley as he goes home to play with his new team against the Rapids this weekend.
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Soccer Spin has a Q & A with Equakes midfielder Ronnie O'Brien - and - assisntant coach Ian Russell.
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TORONTO FC

The Sun with an article on Amado Guevara who insists that he is not the locker room cancer that saw 2 other MLS teams offload him.
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Still haven't heard confirmation on whether or not TFC has signed 33 year old defender Olivier Tebily of Cote d'Ivoire. He has spent the majority of his career at Niort in France, early on, and later at Birmingham City in England.
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Larry Millson of the Globe & Mail talks to the teams newest midfielder, Englishman Rohan Ricketts. He last played for Championship Division team Barnsley.
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GENERAL

Shaka Hislop at the Guardian with his regular weekly MLS column.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet looks at the moves MLS teams made this offseason and who has benefitted/failed the most so far.
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I know you are all getting excited for the debut of the blog from MLS Commissioner Donald L Garber. "The Commissioner Speaks", indeed. I wonder if it will be a real blog where we learn a little about Don, or just some official blab. Probably the later. Oh well.
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Former MLS Player News

Mike H at My Soccer Blog has a linked to an interview with a huge du Nord favorite from a few seasons back - Colorado & Israel defender Dedi Ben Dayan! He currently plays for Netanya. I loved that guy and was really bummed when he left. Huge thanks to Mike for finding this one!
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USL First Division News

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 17
Portland 1-0 Puerto Rico
-Sat Apr 19
Charleston v Seattle
Miami v Montreal
Atlanta v Carolina
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The Seattle Times previews the 08 season for the reigning league champion Sounders.
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US Soccer News

US Soccer has an audio interview with DaMarcus Beasley. He has been out of the Rangers lineup for several months now due to a bad knee injury.
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USA Olympic Team

The draw for the initial group stage of the Olympic tournament will happen on Sunday morning our time, from Beijing.
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USA U20 News

In Beja, Portugal for the Campos Verdes International Tournament this week.
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Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
USA 1-3 Cape Verde Islands - USA goal by Brek Shea.
-Wed Apr 16
USA 3-0 Northern Ireland - USA goals by Vincenzo Bernardo, Peri Marosevic & Ellis McLoughlin.
-Fri Apr 18
USA v Portugal
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Americans In Europe

Thursday games to watch for:
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - did not suit up due to a hip injury as the team won 2-1 at home against Wehen.
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - did not plays as they won at home 1-0 over Elfsborg
-Tim Howard - Everton - played all 90 but lost 0-1 at home to Chelsea.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - did not play as the team won at home 1-0 over Elfsborg
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - started and played 65 minutes as they won 2-1 at home over Wehen.
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Mexico & FMF News

Here is the top of the Premiera table with only 3 rounds left to play:
29 Guadalajara Chivas
26 San Lius
25 Cruz Azul
24 Santos Laguna
23 Toluca
22 Chiapas Jaguares
21 Pachuca
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Club America are in last place, by a mile, with only 8 points. Oof.
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South American News

Pitch Invasion has a fantastic article from a Toronto FC fan who was in Peru and went to a Copa Libertadores match. Fantastic article, with some very cool picture.
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Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
Danubio 1-2 Lanus - Dan goal by Cristian Bardaro. Lan goals by Sebastian Blanco & Jose Sand.
Estudiantes 2-0 Deportivo Cuenca - Estu goals by Leandro Lazzaro & Polo Wila(OG).
-Wed Apr 16
Bamin Real Potosi 5-1 Cruzeiro - BRP goals by Miguel Loaiza, Alvaro Pintos(2), Isidro Candia & Luis Gatty Ribeiro. Cruz goal by Marcelo Martins.
San Lorenzo 3-0 Caracas - SL goals by Gonzalo Bergessio, Vicente Rosales(OG) & Andres Silvera.
San Jose 0-3 Guadalajara Chivas - Guad goals by Sergio Avila(2) & Gonzalo Pineda.
Santos 2-1 Cucuta Deportivo - Sant goals by Kleber Pereira & Mariano Tripodi. Cuc goal by Lin Carlos Henry.
Libertad 1-2 Arsenal - Lib goal by Nelson Cuevas. Ars goals by Juan Bottaro & Javier Yacuzzi.
-Thu Apr 17
Universidad Catolica 2-0 America - Cato goals by Gary Medel & Dario Bottinelli.
River Plate 5-0 Univ San Martin - RP goals by Sebastian Abreu(3), Radamel Falcao Garcia & Andres Rios.
Fluminense 1-0 LDU Quito - Flum goal by Cicero.
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River Plate & America join Santos, San Lorenzo, Estudiantes, Lanus, Cucuta Deportivo, Atlas, Cruzeiro, Fluminense & LDU Quito in securing 11 of the 16 spots in the knock out rounds.
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Group Stage Standings
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Fiorentina has come out and said they want to buy troubled forward Adriano from Inter. He is currently on a loan/rehab in Sao Paolo, and has been scoring goals. He has also been seen out partying.
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England News

The Independent has an interview with Man City boss Sven Goren Erickson.
-And a few extra tidbits from the interview.
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The Guardian talks to Sunderland manager Roy Keane who goes on and on about his high regard for Newcastle coach Kevin Keegan.
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European News

I think this picture from The Telegraph perfectly pictures the Old Firm derby.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Marseille Eric Gerets.
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Even though both Milan and Inter have talked about building their own new stadiums lately, they both just signed new 5 year leases to play at their current shared home the Stadio Guiseppe Meazza aka San Siro.
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Euro League Cup Competitions

DFB Pokal Final
-Sat Apr 19
Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munchen
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Big Euro Club Matches This Weekend

-Sat Apr 19
Barcelona v Espanyol - the Barcelona derby
-Sun Apr 20
Aston Villa v Birmingham - the Birmingham derby
Porto v Benfica - two of the big old clubs in Portugal due battle, but little is on the line.
Standard Liege v Anderlecht - #1 v #2 in Belgium
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The final game of the season in Holland and PSV lead Ajax by 3 points. But PSV do not have a better goal differential at +40, while Ajax's is at +45.
-Sun Apr 20
Vitesse Arnhem v PSV Eindhoven
Ajax Amsterdam v Heracles Almelo
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Top 5 Goal Scorers In Each Of Europe’s Big Leagues

-La Liga-
23 Luis Fabiano - Sevilla
18 Daniel Guiza - Mallorca
16 Raul Gonzalez - Real Madrid
15 Diego Milito - Zaragoza
14 Samuel Eto'o - Barcelona
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-Bundesliga-
20 Luca Toni - Bayern Munich
15 Mario Gomez - Stuttgart
14 Kevin Kuranyi - Schalke
13 Mladen Petric - Borussia Dortmund
12 Diego - Werder Bremen
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-Serie A-
19 Marco Borriello - Genoa
18 David Trezeguet - Juventus
16 Adrian Mutu - Fiorentina
16 Antonio Di Natale - Udinese
15 Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Inter Milan
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-Eredivisie-
33 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar - Ajax
21 Blaise N'Kufo - Twente
17 Robin Nelisse - Utrecht
16 Michael Bradley - Heerenveen
16 Luis Suarez - Ajax
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-Premiership-
28 Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United
22 Fernando Torres - Liverpool
20 Emmanuel Adebayor - Arsenal
15 Roque Santa Cruz - Blackburn
14 Robbie Keane - Tottenham
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-Ligue Un-
17 Karim Benzema - Lyon
15 Mamadou Niang - Marseille
14 Fernando Cavenaghi - Bordeaux
13 Djibril Cisse - Marseille
13 Bafetimbi Gomis - St Etienne
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2008 UEFA European Championship

The Reuters Soccer Blog looks at the directives referees have been given for the upcoming tournament. Diving is a big one.
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World News

The most recent entry in Simon Kuper's look at Politics and Football at Channel 4 is very timely - Silvio Berlusconi, owner of Milan and now again Prime Minister of Italy. This is a great series.
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African News

Leila Parreira, wife of South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira told a Brazilian newspaper yesterday that her husband plans to quit this job within the next few weeks. Stay tuned.