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.
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Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 24
Portland v Minnesota
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Season Previews:
Tim Leighton of the St Paul Pioneer Press
Minneapolis Star Tribune
USL
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The Star Tribune has a side article on the teams owners.
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You can watch all the First Division games like at www.usloccer.com
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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.
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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.
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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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Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet previews the Thursday night ESPN2 game.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with New England's prep for tonight's game.
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Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald looks at the Rev's depth and how it will be tested again tonight.
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Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News with an article on Dallas's quality start to the season.
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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!
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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.
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

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

Grahame Jones of the LA Times on The Goats plan to stop Landy & Becks.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger also writes about Big Sig.
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FC DALLAS

Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree with this weeks Dallas practice observations.
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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!
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post says the start of this season for DCU looks very similar to last year.
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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.
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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.
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Andrea Canales at Soccer365 talks to Joe Franchino about his move back to LA.
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The official Galaxy blog has a pic of former USA coach Bora Milutinovic, who stopped by the teams office.
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Beau Dure of USA Today on the upcoming LA grudge-match.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Soccer By Ives with the latest on the search for a new President for the team. Agoos? Really?
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Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer with team updates including Juan Pablo Angel's hamstring injury.
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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.
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Stefan Bondy of the Herald News also reports on Angel's thigh muscle mystery.
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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
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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.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

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

TFC finally makes it official in signing former Birmingham City defender Olivier Tebily. He is from Cote d'Ivoire.
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Larry Millson of the Globe & Mail with an article on the teams virtually unknown New Zealand midfielder Jarrod Smith.
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The Star with an article on rookie defender Julius James.
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The Sun on another rookie defender who has been thrown to the wolves already - Marco Velez.
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GENERAL

US Soccer's MLS Referee Review for Week 4. Here's the podcast to download or listen to online.
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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.
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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.
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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.)
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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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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.
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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.
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Americans In Europe

Kasey Keller's name has hit the rumor wire as a potential target for Bayern Munich.
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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.
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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.
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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)
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on his blog Soccer y Futbol with his thoughts from last nights match.
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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.
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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.
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Copa Libertadores

This ends the Group Stage. The 2 legged knock out phase begins next week!
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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.
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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.
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Final Group Stage Standings
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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
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Second leg matches will be played on May 7.
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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.
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Liverpool leftback Fabio Aurelio will miss the rest of the season with a torn groin muscle.
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European News

Hungary has named Dutchman Erwin Koeman as their new national team head coach.
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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.
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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
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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.
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La Gazzetta seems very proud to point out that Man United used good old fashioned Italian catenaccio to hold off Barcelona.
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The Guardian gives round 1 to Lionel in the CRonald v Messi competition.
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The Independent gives the nod to Messi as well. Too bad its not worth anything.
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Barney Ronay of the Guardian on CRonaldo's stumbling game.
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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.
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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 (-)
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Bayern striker Luca Toni is suspended for the 1st leg match due to Yellow Card accumulation.
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The Final will be played May 14 in Manchester at the City of Manchester Stadium.
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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
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Teams Still In The Chase For
Titles In Europe's Biggest Leagues

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