Up Down Turn Around Please Don't Let Me Hit The Ground News

I found another new team to champion: FC Vova of Vilnius Lithuania [FIXED]. Love Football & Hate Fascism is their battle cry! (thanks to Andrew for this one & to Jonah for the correction)


UEFA Champions League

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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MLS Scoreboard

Week 6
Matches & Scores:
-Thu May 1
Toronto v New York - 6pm central on ESPN2
-Sat May 3
New England v Chicago - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Columbus v Kansas City - 6:30pm central on FSC
Houston v Chivas USA - 7:30pm central on HDNet
Salt Lake v Los Angeles - 8pm central on Direct Kick
San Jose v Dallas 9pm central on Direct Kick
-Sun May 4
Colorado v DC - 2pm central on TeleFutura
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Out suspended this week:
-Eddie Robinson - Houston - 3rd of 3 games
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du Nord MLS Player Of The Week

Joe Franchino - Los Angeles
I know some people are going to think I am an idiot for this one, and I admit I kinda think that myself, but without Joey watching their backs Donovan and Beckham could never have taken Chivas USA apart. Franchino played like a veteran possessed. He had one role and that was to interrupt the CUSA attack before it began, and then have the calm to make the right pass springing his teammates going the other way. And he did all this with out Nick Garcia style cheap shot tactics. Oddly he played it more like Michael Parkhurst and anticipated the Goats moves before they themselves did. I can't tell you how strange it feels to sitting here writing heaps of praise for a guy that I have used as an example on countless occasions to say: We will know MLS has truly arrived when guys with little skill like Joe Franchino can't get on a roster any more. For this week at least, I am dead wrong. It nearly tortures me to write all this but a big congrats to JF on a fresh start in LA, and one hell of a derby game.
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Amado Guevara & Landon Donovan had the most high profile weeks, and will get all the votes for POTW from responsible authorities around the country. Deservedly so.
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

The tug of war drama is over! The Fire has signed defender Lider Marmol. He was wanted badly by New York, but Chicago held his rights and vowed to fight for him. They won. And they held there ground when another defender Wilman Conde wanted to fly the coop to New York as well. Good for them. Is this guy any good?
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FC DALLAS

I finally got to see the video replay of a Yellow Card given to Arturo Alvarez for taking a dive in the box. Great call! This is the kinda thing that gives the game a really bad name among non-fans - diving! I wonder if I could file a civil suit against every diver?
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DC UNITED

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog has a couple of quotes from coach Tom Soehn as the team prepares to play Colorado.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Chronicle on the still winless Dynamo.
-But they got their MLS Cup winning rings.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Bob Luder of the KC Star with a story on rookie Roger Espinoza and his native Honduras.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Nick Green of the LA Daily News on the Becks & Lando Show.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports writes about Donovan's current power surge. Imagine where he would be if he put away a couple more of those easy one's he has missed this season!
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Goal.com with an article on new league bad-ass Landon Donovan. I think he like the Hulk, but without the green part.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with an article on Wells Thompson who's season is just now getting going after an injury.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger talks to Mike Magee about FINALLY getting back on the field, and then scoring a goal.
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REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Desert Morning News on the papers RSL blog gives us a stadium construction update.
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TORONTO FC

Nigel Reed at the CBC sings the praises of 3 in a row.
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GENERAL

For the 2nd week in a row, MLS has named Landon Donovan as Player Of The Week. You can fully expect him to win Player of The Month for April as well when that is announced next week.
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Jeff Bradley gives us his best MLS "duo's" of all time on his First XI column.
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Graig Carbino at the US National Soccer Players Assoc has a Q & A with former player turned TV commentator turned coach turned TV commentator again John Harkes.
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US Open Cup

Some MLS teams will have to play-off against each other to qualify.
1st of 2 Rounds - Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 30
Salt Lake v San Jose - winner plays at Columbus in 2nd round of qualifying.
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USL First Division Scoreboard

This latest First & Second Division Team of the Week honorees.
-Stephen de Roux of my team the Thunder made the list.
-Takayuki Suzuki of Portland was named USL1D Player of the Week.
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Matches & Scores:
-Fri May 2
Charleston v Rochester
Puerto Rico v Montreal
Atlanta v Seattle
-Sun May 4
Minnesota v Rochester
Miami v Carolina
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USA U20 News

The USA U20 team is heading to England to play a trio of games against the reserves teams of some big English clubs.
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Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 7
Bolton Reserves v USA
-Thu May 8
Manchester United Reserves v USA
-Sat May 10
Liverpool Reserves v USA
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Here is the roster:
G:
Bill Hamid - DC United
Brian Perk - UCLA
D:
Kyle Davies - Southampton
Greg Eckhardt - Clemson U
Taylor Kemp - Real Colorado
Ike Opara - Wake Forest U
Zarek Valentin - IMG Academy
Sheanon Williams - U North Carolina
M:
Jose Altamirano - Del Mar Sharks
Richard Balchan - Indiana U
Jorge Flores - Chivas USA
Matt Kassel - New York Red Bulls
Derek Markheim - Ameins
Alfredo Morales - Hertha Berlin
F:
Steven Cabas - Florida International U
Felix Garcia - Laredo Heat
Peri Marosevic - U Michigan
Billy Schuler - U North Carolina
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Soccer In America

Brazil is becoming the next Mexico and scheduling more of their friendlies right here in the USA. They played 2 in the States last year and now have line up a May 31 match v Canada at Qwest Field in Seattle and Jun 6 v Venezuela back in Foxborough at Gillette Stadium.
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise with the latest on the Cuban defectors trying to catch on with a pro team.
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CONCACAF Champions Cup

Final
2nd Leg Match & Score (1st leg score included):
-Wed Apr 30
Pachuca v Saprissa (1-1)
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Mexico & FMF News

Reports from Europe say that Mexico has been snubbed by Ronald Koeman when he was offered their national team coaching job last week. Wow, we could have been really lucky if that bum had been hired. Are they really having that hard of time finding a coach? Not so different from the USA then.
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Copa Libertadores

Round of 16, 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 30
Atletico Nacional v Fluminense
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

All reports say Manchester City coach Sven Goran Erickson is about to be fired.
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Paul Doyle of the Guardian makes the case "for" and "against" Erickson.
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European News

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian raaaaaaaaaves about Bayern star Franck Ribery.
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La Gazzetta with an early preview of the Milan derby coming up this weekend.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at the title races as we near the end of the big Euro league seasons.
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Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian looks into the factors that have brought Steaua Bucharest to the top of the Romanian league - religion, politics, scandal, corruption, the usual.
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Ben Lyttleton of the Guardian shows us the money-man behind the rise of Lille.
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UEFA Cup

Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Thu May 1
Bayern Munchen v Zenit (1-1)
Fiorentina v Rangers (0-0)
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The Final will be played May 14 in Manchester at the City of Manchester Stadium.
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World News

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog links us to a very cool new Nike "POV" style ad. I hear it was made by Guy Ritchie.