Pierluigi Is My Monkey's Uncle News

Jean-Phillipe Peguero signs with San Jose yesterday before the roster deadline. You may remember him from New York & Colorado. He blew out his knee at Brondy in Denmark [FIXED] and is now back. See San Jose Earthquakes section for details.

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I want to make a list of this years crop of MLS rookies that we should start tracking in the race for the Rookie Of The Year award. So send me your suggestions


MLS Scoreboard

Week 4 Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 17
DC v Columbus - 7pm central on ESPN2
-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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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet previews Thursday nights game.
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave with an article on defender Wilman Conde who apologized to his teammates for his demand to be traded.
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Arroyave with lots more good Fire stuff on his blog The Red Card:
-Some outtakes from the Conde story.
-Chris Rolfe is having trouble with his right ankle. Last year it was his left.
-The teams interim President, Javier Leon, is not a candidate for the full time position.
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CD CHIVAS USA

Forward Alecko Eskandarian is headed to Germany this week to possibly have that great quick fix hernia surgery that one doctor over there has perfected.
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COLUMBUS CREW

In the dying minutes of last nights MLS transfer window opening, Columbus got their man from Nigeria signed to a contract. Young midfielder Emmanuel Ekpo played for the club Enyimba in his homeland, and trained during this offseason with the Crew hoping to get a deal.
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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch has an article on 2 Crew assistant coaches Robert Warzycha & Mike Lapper who still love to get in on the action during practice sessions. Especially when head coach Sigi can't because of his pregnancy. When is that guys due date anyway? I could have sworn it was several years ago.
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Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner on the return to DC of new Crew midfielder Brian Carroll.
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Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America feels that Guillermo Barros Schelotto will be required to take the Crew as far as he can this season. No one else has the ability he has to make it happen. Via Sports Illustrated.
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FC DALLAS

Buzz Carrick at 3rd Degree gives us this weeks Practice Observations on Dallas.
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DC UNITED

Soccer 365 has a Q & A with forward Santino Quaranta.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Defender Eddie Robinson has finally been caught and disciplined for one of his dirty cheap shots. No call was made at the time but his forearm to the face of KC defender Tyson Wall caused quite a gash that needed stitches to repair. Robinson will be suspended for 3 games. Don't get me wrong here, I love Eddie, but THAT was a cheap shot of the first order.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with some Dynamo & MLS notes.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

The teams website has a Q & A with new Colombian forward Ivan Trujillo.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with an article on young Revolution defender Amaechi Igwe who has gotten a chance to play the past 2 games and has certainly shown he has the potential to be a real player.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger looks at the never ending upheaval that goes on in the MetroStars/Red Bulls on and off the field.
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Andrew Rogers at Soccer 365 questions the talent at the Red Bulls, are they getting the most out of their players?
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Brian Lewis at the New York Post Extra Time blog with notes from last weekends NYRB game.
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REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News says the RSL players are trying not to let the big win over DC go to their heads.
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The Salt Lake Tribune says that RSL finally has the depth to push starters with guys who can be replaced if not performing.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Elliott Almond of the San Jose Mercury News on the Equakes adding former MLS striker Jean-Phillipe Peguero of Haiti on loan from Brondby in Sweden. If he is healthy, after a bad knee injury, and can regain that form he had in New York, he could add a lot to this offense-depleted team. For coach Frank Yallop's sake I hope its a good move.
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TORONTO FC

Soccer By Ives is reporting that TFC has hired former MLS defender Tim Regan as the teams Technical Director. WTF? I thought that was Mo Johnston's new job? Regan was a journeyman type player who was never a full time starter, but someone thinks he knows a lot about the game and can help make a team better. Good for Regan.
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TFC has released defender Andrew Boyens who was a starter for most of last season. No offense to Boyens personally, but for the team this is a step in the right direction.
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Nigel Reed on his Extra Time blog at the CBC looks at what last weekends win in LA can tell us about team so far this season.
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Half way home on the flight from their match in LA the teams plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Omaha due to equipment problems. Roads were actually cleared around the airport and fire trucks & ambulances were standing by. Thankfully nothing happened. They got on another plane, and finished the journey!
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The Toronto Star lets us know that they have pretty damn good chow in the concession stands at BMO Field.
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GENERAL

Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated gives us the names of 4 young players who can become the next wave of great MLS players.
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Bloomberg, the financial news company, has a video interview with league commish Donald L Garber. Video link is in the far right column of the page)
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Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports looks the comparison of MLS to the Premiership. Fact or fiction. Well, you and I all know it's fiction, but the tale is not as tall as some might think.
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The Dallas Morning News with an article on the surprise start to the season (good and bad) by several clubs.
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Pete Grathoff of the KC Star with his weekly round up of MLS info.
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Paul Gardner at Soccer America on some of the things that make no sense, yet make soccer so amazing.
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MLS Stadium Talk

The San Jose Mercury News has some more good news on the progress toward building a stadium in their city.
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USL First Division News

Ann Ramzy of Soccernet looks at the first weekend of the USL1D season.
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Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail's blog On Soccer gives us some info on Canada's two USL1D teams - Vancouver & Montreal, who started their seasons against each other on Saturday.
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Team USA

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog says the USA will probably play a World Cup qualifier at Toyota Park.
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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 v Northern Ireland
-Fri Apr 18
USA v Portugal
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Am I reading this right? They lost to Cape Verdes Island? Seriously? Come on coach Rongen, get yer boys together here! This is embarrassing.
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Americans In Europe

Everton are chasing hard after Michael Bradley.
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American Soccer Daily talks to Dan Califf about his future, be it at Aalborg or somewhere else next season.
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Nick Green at the Daily Breeze feels like I do, if Fulham is relegated from the Premiership it will dim the light a little on the American soccer.
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Eddie Johnson scored the game winner for the Fulham reserves as they won 2-0 over Aston villa at home. (thanks to Brian for this info)
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Soccer 365 has a Q & A with young goalkeeper Colin Burns who just joined Ljungskile in Sweden.
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Tuesday games to watch for:
-Joe Enochs - Osnabruck - did not play as they lost 2-0 at Koln.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played all 90 minutes but lost the second leg of the Belgian Cup Semifinal match 4-0 at Gent and were knocked out with the aggregate of 6-2. Gooch also claimed a Yellow Card for his efforts.
-Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - did not play, the team won at home 2-0 against Augsburg.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - came off the bench in the 60th minute but lost at home 1-2 to Werder Bremen.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - played all 90 minutes as they won 6-1 at home over Paderhorn.
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Wednesday games to watch for:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - the Taca de Portugal (League Cup) Semifinal derby match against Lisbon rivals Sporting!
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - at Borussia Dortmund
-Joshua Grenier - Koblenz - at home versus Freiburg
-Sal Zizzo - Hannover - at Borussia Dortmund
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Thursday games to watch for:
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - at home against Wehen
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - at home v Elfsborg
-Tim Howard - Everton - at home to Chelsea
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - at home v Elfsborg
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - at home against Wehen
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CONCACAF News

Beau Dure of USA Today with an article on the 6 Cuban players who defected from the Olympic team during the qualifying tournament in the USA.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

Belize will host the "home" leg of the series v Mexico in Houston at Reliant Stadium on June 16.
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Mexico & FMF News

-Wed Apr 16
Mexico v China in Seattle - Chucho at the wheel of the company truck.
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The Seattle Post Intelligencer with 2 articles on the match, which they say has sold over 48,000 tickets and could even sell out!
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Graciela Resendiz at ESPN Deportes with a weekend wrap up from the Mexican Premiera.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times on Mexico's search for a new national team head coach.
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Luis Bueno of Press Enterprise ponders the debacle of Mexico's lack of coaching leadership right before they begin qualifying for the World Cup.
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Bueno on his Sideline Views blog tells us who the players, coaches & club executives from around Mexico have been quoted as saying they would like to see considered for the national team job.
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South American News

Millonarios coach Mario Alberto Vanemerak was recently suspended by the club for 3 months after he kicked down a door and did more property damage after the team lost an important game, and today the team went one step further and decided to relieve him of his job completely.
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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 v Cruzeiro
San Lorenzo v Caracas
San Jose v Guadalajara Chivas
Santos v Cucuta Deportivo
Libertad v Arsenal
-Thu Apr 17
Universidad Catolica v America
River Plate v Univ San Martin
Fluminense v LDU Quito
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Estudinates & Lanus join Cucuta Deportivo, Atlas, Cruzeiro, Fluminense & LDU Quito in securing 7 of the 16 spots in the knock out rounds.
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Group Stage Standings
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England News

Jamie Redknapp writing for the Daily Mail breaks down the flaws in Arsenal this season.
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Tim Vickery at Sports Illustrated tells us that Arsenal's big mistake has been not utilizing Gilberto Silva's talent.
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Chelsea is going to rest forward Didier Drogba and his bad knee on Thursday night against Everton in hopes that he will be in better shape for the Champions League next week against Liverpool.
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The Times takes a look at Chelsea coach Avram Grant and his standing at the team at this moment in time.
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Reports from England say Liverpool co-owner wants to sign coach Rafa Benitez to a long term deal if he can secure lone ownership of the club.
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European News

Paul Doyle of the Guardian tells the real story of why Dutch star Johann Cruyff did not play for his country in the 1978 World Cup. It's quite a story.
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Reebok has a cool video feature on Thierry Henry (along with other athletes). Nice! Actor Paz Vega directed this. Also nice.
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Chelsea, Lokomotiv Moscow, Milan & Sevilla will participate in the Russian Railways Cup in early August in Moscow.
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Football Italia reports that in a game last Saturday Roma striker Francesco Totti was scene letting loose with a long and loud profanity filled tirade against the referee. He got a Yellow Card. But many in Italy thought he deserved Red for the severity of the attack. Today the head of the Italian Referee's Assoc agreed that it should have been Red, but there will be no post-game repercussions.
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Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian wonders if problems with Poland will cause them to lose their hosting rights of the 2012 UEFA European Championship.
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World Soccer with a story on coach Giovanni Trapattoni as he takes over the leash on the Ireland national team. Via Sports Illustrated.
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Euro League Cup Competitions

-Copa del Rey- Final
Match & Score:
-Wed Apr 16
Getafe v Valencia
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-Coppa Italia- Semifinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 16
Inter v Lazio
Roma v Catania
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Wed May 7
Lazio v Inter (-)
Catania v Roma (-)
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-Coupe de France- Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
Amiens 1-0 Dijon
Lyon 1-0 Metz
-Wed Apr 16
Bordeaux v Sedan Ardennes
Carquefou v Paris St Germain
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-Taca de Portugal- Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
Vitoria Setubal 0-3 Porto
-Wed Apr 16
Sporting v Benfica
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-Beker van Belgie- Semifinals
1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 18
Standard de Liege 2-2 Gent
-Wed Mar 19
Anderlecht 1-0 Germinal Beerschot
2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Apr 15
Gent 4-0 Standard de Liege - Gent advance 6-2 on aggregate.
-Wed Apr 16
Germinal Beerschot v Anderlecht (0-1)
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Big Euro Club Matches This Week

The Old Firm derby is on tonight - Celtic v Rangers!
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World News

Grahame Jones of the LA Times with his weekly world soccer news round up - Corner Kicks.
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Ravi Ubha at the Seattle Post Intelligencer with his soccer news recap from all over the world - the Beautiful Game.
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Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune with his always quality Trophies, Red Cards, & Sidelines notes.