Not Hang Around News

On an ESPN online chat Jozy Altidore of the New York Red Bulls told readers that he has a bruised knee and his playing status for this weekend is "day-to-day".

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Here it is folks. The list of what every player in MLS is making! Who do you think is the most overpaid?

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Ronaldinho heads for the shelf. He has torn a muscle in his leg and will miss the rest of this season for Barcelona. Now what happens to him? Come on MLS! The price just went down!

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After 8 games, the first pattern of the new MLS season has evolved - only 2 road goals has been scored!


MLS Scoreboard

Week 2 Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 3
Chicago 4-0 New England - Chic goals by Chad Barrett, Tomasz Frankowski(2) & Cuauhtemoc Blanco(PK).
Match report by Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun Times.
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match report by Nick Firchau of the Southtown Star.
Match report by Orrin Schwarz of the Daily Herald
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report from the Boston Herald.
Post game notes by Dell'appa at the Globe.
Los Angeles 2-0 San Jose - LA goals by David Burzum & Landon Donovan.
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report from the LA Daily News.
Match report by Elliot Almond of the San Jose Mercury News.
Post game analysis from Andrea Canales at Soccernet.
Post game notes from Nick Green on his 100 Percent Soccer blog.
-Sat Apr 5
Kansas City v Colorado - 4pm central on Direct Kick
New York v Columbus - 6:30pm central on FSC
DC v Toronto - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Chivas USA v Salt Lake - 9:30pm central on HDNet
Sun Apr 6
Houston v Dallas - 2pm central on TeleFutura
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Bruce Arena will join Sean Wheelock in calling the KC v Columbus game.
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Beau Dure of USA Today with weekend match previews.
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My notes from the Chicago v New England game:
-Man oh man did New England just show us the other side of the moon or what? They killed Houston at home on Saturday, then do on the road to Chicago and are themselves completely wiped out before half time.
-Chicago just came out of fire (hahahahaha). That early goal followed by the ejection, and then another goal and PK and one more goal all before half time. Impressive by Chicago!
-I am not one to scream a lot about bad calls by referees, I usually stick up for them, cuz its a heinous job, but I just don't see the Red Card nature of the foul by New England's Jeff Larentowicz. A foul, ok, but not even a Yellow in my mind, much less Red. Plus it completely changed the entire game.
-Michael Parkhurst, Jay Heaps & Chris Albright really got burned badly on the end lines by the Chicago attack. The 1st, 2nd & 4th goals all saw an attacker get past one of them, go to the endline and cross the ball right into the heart of the goal box. There Chicago either had an open path to goal or cleaned up the scramble that ensued. Anyway you slice it, poor defending and three big goals!
-Glenn Davis was great calling the game.
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My notes from the Los Angeles v San Jose game:
-The TV game us a few shots of Lakers star Kobe Bryant taking in the LA v SJ game.
-Not one drop of the old rivalry could be seen on the field. They will have to grow it all over again.
-When San Jose first took the field in those black shirt and blue shorts I thought it looked horrible, but by the end of the game I kind of came around the originality of the look. I will give it some more time.
-Those two fellas Donovan & Bergman can really pass the ball.
-San Jose are just plain old bad. Not one guy on their team impressed me.
-Who is this giant rampaging unskilled maniac in the middle of the field for LA - Alviro Pires. Where did they find this guy. Does he have the same agent as Naldo did?
-Steve Cronin is going to cost LA several goals this year. They made a huge mistake getting rid of Joe Cannon.
-The LA defense was better off without Abel Xavier, but Mike Randolph looked pretty poor on the left. They could really use Ante Jazic.
-How come Julie Foudy doesn't have an upper lip?
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune kept track of his entire game day on his Red Card blog. Good stuff.
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Arroyave also writes in the Trib about all the strikers on the Fire roster.
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CD CHIVAS USA

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune tells us how a Utah kid (Justin Braun) playing on a club team at a community college ended up on the Chivas roster. Braun even played the last 20 minutes in week 1. Great story.
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Luis Bueno at MLSnet talks to C-USA exec Shawn Hunter about what the teams goals are, on and off the field. I don't think you can ever have too many.
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Chivas says that at the end of every home game their players have been instructed to throw their game jersey to a fan in the stands. Nice.
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DC UNITED

As happens every year, player salary numbers begin to leak out. Steven Goff of the Washington Post has an article on DC players and the size of their paychecks.
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Goff on his Soccer Insider blog gives us the latest on Ben Olsen's ankle surgery recovery, and other DC news.
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The team will NOT sign Brazilian forward Cezar who had been with them for an extended try out.
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John Haydon of the Washington Times says that Jaime Moreno will be ready to play this weekend.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet with an article on Claudio Lopez, and previews of all this weekends games.
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The official KC team website has a Q & A with first year defender Chance Meyers. (non-soccer stuff)
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Steve Davis at Soccernet says that some people will be ultra critical of Landon Donovan no matter what he does. Steve Davis is a genius!
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RED BULL NEW YORK

The last team to start the new season.
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Ives Galarcep the Herald News tells us about coach Juan Carlos Osorio putting his plan into progress at NYRB.
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MetroFanatic goes back to day 1 and relives every season opener with the Metros and Bulls.
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The teams official blog Red Bull Reader has a video clip of coach Osorio previewing the first match.
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REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News with an article on RSL keeper Nick Rimando.
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Daily Utah Chronicle with a preview of the Chivas game.
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Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune gives a look to the RSL player salaries.
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TORONTO FC

Nigel Reed on his CBC blog Extra Time looks at TFC's addition of Laurent Robert (I almost wrote Blanc).
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All three Toronto Newspapers with stories on the addition of Robert - Morgan Campbell of the Star, Dean McNulty of the Sun and Larry Millson of the Globe & Mail.
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Carl Robinson's regular column for the County Times in Wales, about the tough opener in Columbus, and other assorted stuff.
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Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner points out that TFC is one of the few teams not stocking up on South/Central American players.
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GENERAL

Soccer America lists the highest paid player on each of the 14 teams.
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Jeff Bradley at MLSnet give us his list of the best first outings for MLS teams in this First XI. (But to be truly effective I should have linked to this yesterday - Sorry)
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The New Jersey Herald have still not hired someone to fill the fulltime shoes of Ives Galarcep (he still writes for them), but an editor there has launched a new soccer blog - The International Fixture.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times tries to tell us that Ronaldinho is not coming to MLS this summer, but follows it up with no reasoning at all. I say hogwash to that - We Want Ron! Jonesy has other soccer notes too.
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Hey, anyone want Jeff Cunningham? For cheap. He has worn out his welcome in Toronto. That's 4 teams now.
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Joao Pinto turned down Toronto's money, went back to Portugal, got even worse offers there, and is now back peddling his old angry self to the Red Bulls.
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USL First Division & PDL News

Are you coming to the Twin Cities for the Minnesota Thunder home opener? May 4! You can help me celebrate my birthday the night before. Watch this clip. Then book your trip. (that rhymes)
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Soccer In America

Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer has created a map of all the teams in the top 3 divisions (MLS, USL1D, USL2D) of soccer in USA & Canada. Fantastic.
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CONCACAF News

FIFA.com takes a look at football in the Caribbean.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

Belize are looking at stadiums in the United States to host their home leg of the upcoming series v Mexico. LA & Houston are their top choices.
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Mexico & FMF News

Luis Bueno on his Sideline Views blog gives us a preview of the weekend matches for the 7(!!!) Americans who play in the Mexican league. Awesome. I love this kinda thing.
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Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Apr 1
Santos v San Jose
Universidad Catolica v Dep Univ San Martin
Bamin Real Potosi v Caracas
-Apr 2
America 4-3 River Plate - Amer goals by Rodrigo Inigo, Enrique Esqueda, Diego Cervantes & Salvador Cabanas. RP goals by Rodrigo Archubi, Diego Cervantes(OG) & Sebastian Abreu.
Fluminense 2-0 Libertad - Flum goals by Cicero & Thiago Silva.
Sao Paulo 1-0 Sportivo LuquenoSP goal by Adriano.
Lanus 3-3 Estudiantes - Lan goals by Jose Sand, Diego Valeri & Lautaro Acosta. Est goals by Leandro Desabato, Leandro Benitez & Ivan Moreno y Fabianesi.
-Apr 3
Atletico Nacional 1-1 Audax Italiano - AN goal by Carlos Villagra. AI goal by Fabian Orellana.
Nacional 1-0 Coronel Bolognesi - Nac goal by Deivis Barone.
Cruzeiro 3-1 San Lorenzo - Cruz goals by Marcelo Martins(2) & Wagner. SL goal by Andres Silvera.
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Cruzeiro joins Fluminense & LDU Quito in securing a spot in the knock out rounds.
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Group Stage Standings
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England News

The awesome Marcela Mora y Araujo (who I think I could marry) at the Guardian gives us insight on a young Argentine talent at Birmingham - forward Mauro Zarate. You put this kid together with Aguero, Messi & Tevez and then get the hell out of the way.
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The Independent is running a story today about an anonymous player (so far) in Britain who threw a game so a bookie would wipe out his debts. This could be big.
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The Times with a story on Watford's renewed investment in their youth development.
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Gary Neville, good old Rat Fuck himself, will be named in the Manchester United game day 18 man roster on Saturday for the first time in a year.
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European News

Sebastian Perex Ferreiro of Sports Illustrated with a story on Atletico Madrid's fantastic forward partners Diego Forlan & Kun Aguero. They are a blast to watch.
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UEFA Cup

Quarterfinal 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 3
Leverkusen 1-4 Zenit
Rangers 0-0 Sporting
Bayern 1-1 Getafe
Fiorentina 1-1 PSV
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Euro League Cup Competitions

English FA Cup Semifinals (Wembley Stadium)
-Sat Apr 5
West Bromwich Albion v Portsmouth
-Sun Apr 6
Barnsley v Cardiff City
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The Reuters Soccer Blog previews the 2 semifinal matches.
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Big Euro Club Matches This Week

Scores & Matches:
-Sat Apr 5
Arsenal v Liverpool - Arsenal badly needs to stay close to Man U & Chelsea, while Liverpool needs to stay ahead of Everton.
Stuttgart v Hamburg - last years champs are slowing climbing back into it, while Hamburg sit in the #2 spot but 7 behind leaders Bayern Munchen.
-Sun Apr 6
Sevilla v Villarreal - #6 (desperate to get into the top 4 for Champions League) v #2 (aiming to pull the stunning upset and win La Liga!)