Faster Than Greeeeeeeezed Lightning News

A very interesting new podcast from US Soccer - a weekly MLS Referee Review - experts and authorities sit down and talk about referee decisions from the weeks games. I know some of you are serious referee obsessives, so this is for you.


MLS Scoreboard

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
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Out suspended this week:
-Eddie Robinson - Houston - 2nd of 3 games
-Mauricio Castro - New England - 1 game
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du Nord MLS Player Of The Week

Alejandro Moreno - Columbus Crew
This guy single handedly made 90 minutes miserable for the DC defense. We have all watched him play for 6 years now and know he is not the most talented guy out there. He is not big or fast or technically brilliant, but he just finds ways to get it done. Right place, right time - that is his style. That and the fact that year after year he is the most fouled player in the entire league. He got a goal and forced an own goal this week, and while neither were pretty, they did come from damn good team execution, of which he benefitted. So in some ways this should be shared by his teammates, but I just have to give Ale some real recognition. DC may hate you, but you are our player of the week.
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(I know Landon Donovan played great, and I have always loved him as a player, but he did not lead his team to victory. It's as simple as that.)
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Nick Firchau of the Southtown Star with an article on forward Chad Barrett who is not pleased with his performance v KC on Sunday.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card with notes from the Fire game last Sunday v KC and many interesting notes from Chicagoland.
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CD CHIVAS USA

Nick Green at the LA area Daily Breeze has a great interview and article on Mexican legend Claudio Suarez.
-A couple other notes left out of the article were posted on Green's 100 Percent Soccer blog.
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The goals official blog Dentro del Rebano has video of Sacha Kljestan visiting an LA sports TV show on KCAL.
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Former Colorado defender Dan Gargan is getting a tryout with CUSA.
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise starts getting us revved up for the LA derby this weekend.
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COLORADO RAPIDS

FC Rocky with Colorado post-game analysis from the loss to San Jose, and other notes of interest to you and I.
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It's also great to see that the Rocky Mountain News has upgraded it's soccer section to include a lot more news. Awesome.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with his weekly Dynamo notes, especially the silence coming from the teams locker room.
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Fallas with even more Dynamo updates on his Soccer y Futbol blog.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle with an article on forward Claudio Lopez, and what a great edition he has been to the team and league.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Grahame Jones of the LA Times has been writing much more frequently lately - nearly every day - but its mostly rehashed fluff from the newswires. Today however, there is one bit worth reading, and you have to go all the way to the end of the article - trouble brewing at the club management level in LA Galaxyville already this season? Hoo-hoo.
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise starts getting us revved up for the LA derby this weekend.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe calls the New England roster young and vibrant.
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Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald talks to Rev's boss Steve Nicol about being on the road down a man and still going for the win.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger says that while the Red Bulls defense is taking all the blame for ties and losses, a lack of quality in shooting could be just as big a culprit.
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Big Apple Soccer reports that the hamstring strain suffered by Juan Pablo Angel will most likely keep him out of the lineup this weekend v San Jose.
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Former Toronto defender Andrew Boyens of New Zealand is getting a tryout with New York.
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TORONTO FC

Nigel Reed of the CBC on his Extra Time blog gives us his thoughts on TFC after another win.
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Dean McNulty of the Sun says that TFC coach John Carver is not going to allow ANYONE at the team to get ahead of themselves after 2 wins.
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The Globe & Mail with a story on rookie defender Julius James who is getting healthy enough to be very close to taking the field.
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Morgan Campbell of the Star writes about the three new midfielder Rohan Ricketts, Amado Guevara & Lauren Robert who have done the trick in getting the offense going.
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GENERAL

MLS has named Landon Donovan as MLS Player Of The Week.
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German club Borussia Monchengladbach, who will be training in Denver in mid July will take on both Colorado and Dallas in friendlies while they are here.
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Oh, I almost forgot - The Commissioner Speaks. Donald B. Garber's new blog.
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Steve Davis at MLSnet with a Week 4 round up.
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Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com wraps up the weekends games.
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And Pat Walsh at Goal.com looks at the art of goalkeeping so far this season - terrible.
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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America with an early season look at this years crop of imported players.
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Those Chivas USA & Ramon Morales stories are surfacing again. This does not excite me in the least. He is a fine player, but can only add so much.
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MLS Stadium Talk

Andrew Dixon at the US National Soccer Players Assoc writes about the societal impact of a new stadium in a city like Houston.
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MLS Expansion News

The Seattle Post Intelligencer with an article on the possibility that Kasey Keller might return from Europe to play in his home town next season.
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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
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USA Olympic Team

Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet looks at the group the USA Olympic team was drawn into - A tough one.
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Soccer In America

John Feinstein of the Washington Post gives soccer in our country some respect for the present while not forgetting the past.
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Americans In Europe

Jemal Johnson and his team Milton Keynes Dons have now secured promotion from English League Two to League One, which is the 3rd division.
-Here is a cool fact about MK Dons - their shirt sponsor is Marshall Amplification - the preferred amplifier for any great rock n roll hero!
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Americans in Mexico

Luis Bueno on his Sideline Views blog tells us how it went last weekend for our boys who play south of the border.
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Mexico & FMF News

Graciela Resendiz of ESPN Deportes with a Premiera weekend round up.
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Copa Libertadores

Tuesday & Wednesday this week are the end of the Group Stage. The 2 legged knock out phase begins next week!
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Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Apr 22
Colo Colo v Atlas
Boca Juniors v Maracaibo
-Apr 23
Sportivo Luqueno v Audax Italiano
Sao Paulo v Atletico Nacional
Flamengo v Coronel Bolognesi
Nacional v Cienciano
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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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European News

The Reuters Soccer Blog with a story on the poor German language skills of Bayern stars Franck Ribery and Luca Toni. I say who cares as long as they win!
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Some very important style information from my pal Ken the Keeper:
-Fiorentina goalkeeper Sebastian Frey shaves his facial hair into 2 upside down "F's - one for "Frey" and one for "Fiorentina"!
-And Fabrizio Miccoli of Palermo shaves one eyebrow.
Thank you Ken, very insightful.
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It is done - Ronald Koeman has been fired as coach at Valencia.
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Ben Lyttleton of the Guardian on the disaster at Paris St Germain.
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UEFA Champions League

Semifinal 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 22
Liverpool v Chelsea - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
-Wed Apr 23
Barcelona v Manchester United - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Apr 29
Manchester United v Barcelona (-) - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
-Wed Apr 30
Chelsea v Liverpool (-) - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
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UEFA Cup

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports looks at the 2nd year in a row for 3 English team in the CL semifinals.
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African News

South Africa has hired Brazilian Joel Santana as their new national team coach, replacing the just resigned Carlos Alberto Pareirra.