Holiday For Free (With Some Tax) News

Zenit of St Petersburg Russia beat Rangers of Glasgow Scotland 2-0 in Manchester England last night to claim the UEFA Cup! Congrats! See details below in the UEFA Cup section.


MLS Scoreboard

The first of three matches this season to determine the winner of the Rocky Mountain Cup happens tonight in Denver.
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Week 8
Matches & Scores:
-Thu May 15
Colorado v Salt Lake - 8:30pm central on ESPN2
Match preview by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Match preview from the Daily Utah Chronicle.
Match preview by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match preview by James Edward of the Deseret News.-Sat May 17
Toronto v Columbus - 3:00pm central on Direct Kick
New York v Kansas City - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
New England v San Jose - 6:30pm central on HDNet
Chicago v Houston - 7:30pm central on Direct Kick
Chivas USA v DC 9:30pm central on FSC
-Sun May 18
Dallas v Los Angeles - 2pm central on TeleFutura
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Serving Suspension:
Tom McManus - Colorado - 1 Game - Red Card while he was on the bench
Roger Espinoza - Kansas City - 1 Game - Red Card
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MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
18 Columbus (7)
16 Chicago (7)
11 New York (6)
13 New England (8)
10 Kansas City (7)
10 Toronto (6)
6 DC (7)
Western Conference
9 Colorado (7)
9 Dallas (7)
8 Salt Lake (7)
8 Los Angeles (7)
7 Houston (7)
5 Chivas USA (7)
4 San Jose (6)
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card fills us in the hilarious hijinx of Blanco throwing out the First Pitch at the Chicago Cubs baseball game yesterday, and then Chris Rolfe & Chad Barrett leading the crowd in "Take Me Out To The Ballgame."
-How did that First Pitch go? Want pictures?
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Orrin Schwarz of the Daily Herald with an article on journeyman defender Brandon Prideaux.
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COLORADO RAPIDS

Brian Forbes of the Denver Post with an article on 2nd year midfielder Nick LaBrocca who has been a boost for his team so far this season.
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COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch writes about the biggest surprise of the 08 season - Robbie Rogers.
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FC DALLAS

Diego Aparicio at the Dallas Morning News reports that FCD fired assistant coach Jorge Alvial (scroll down the page). No real details were included beyond "friction". Alvial came to the team from his job as a South American scout for Chelsea.
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DC UNITED

DCU's official blog Behind the Badge tells us that even though Ben Olsen's ankles are in bad shape, he just can't stay off the field.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune talks to Dynamo asst coach John Spencer who was a candidate to become the latest Chicago Fire head coach.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Pat Walsh at Goal.com with an article on the return of injured forward Carlos Ruiz.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

The Boston Globe's soccer blog, Corner Kicks, is back. Starring one of our fave's Frank Dell'apa.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Midfielder Danleigh Borman's nickname back in South Africa is Little Dot. I like that one.
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Stefan Bondy of the Herald News on Jozy Altidore, the $10 Million Dollar Man.
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REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret News writes that midfielder Carey Talley was expendable due to all the other quality midfielders on the roster. This also gives the team an open roster spot.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

The Tennessean with an article on their local star Jay Ayres who is now on the SJ developmental roster, and suffered that horrendous broken face in the US Open Cup match 2 weeks ago.
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GENERAL

MLS and the leagues marketing company SUM have signed a 5 year deal to promote Barcelona in the USA. Here is the press release. It says that Barca will be here this summer. I am curious as to how they pull this off now that they finished 3rd in La Liga and have to go through the Champions League qualifying rounds.
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American Soccer News ponders what the strength of the league will be in 4 years when Beckham is done.
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US Soccer with audio of the Referee Review for Week 7.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle looks at the imbalance of quality between the Eastern & Western Conferences.
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Shaka Hislop at the Guardian forgoes his usual MLS column to write about racism.
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Are New England in the process of signing young St Louis sensation Brandon Manzonelli who went to Villarreal 2 years ago?
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Toronto have first rights to English forward Darren Huckerby should he choose to sign with MLS.
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USL First Division News

Randi Patterson of Charleston is just tearing up the goal scoring charts with 4 in 6 games. He was a reserve for the New York Red Bulls last year, and has 2 caps for Trinidad & Tobago.
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USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 14
Charleston 1-0 Montreal - Char goal by Randi Patterson.
Seattle 1-1 Rochester - Sea goal by Zach Scott. Roch goal by Scott Palguta.
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US Soccer News

An audio interview with coach Dave Sarachan about US Soccer Development Academy scouting.
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Team USA

In case you did not notice the updates to the USA match schedule in the right hand column, US Soccer has all but confirmed the venues for the World Cup Qualifying home games in the first group stage if the team gets past Barbados in the opening home-and-away round:
-Sep 10 v Trinidad & Tobago at Toyota Park in Bridgeview IL
-Oct 11 v Cuba at RFK Stadium in Washington DC
-Nov 19 v Guatemala at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City CO
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Americans In Europe

US Soccer has an audio interview with Kasey Keller about Fulhams's Premiership survival.
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Jay DeMerit probably played his last game for Watford last night as they were eliminated from the English Championship Division promotion playoffs. He played all 90 minutes but lost badly 4-1 in the 2nd leg and 6-1 on aggregate. DeMerit had a falling out with coach Aidy Boothroyd earlier this year and saw considerably less playing time after being named team captain at the end of 07. Expect him to be playing for someone else come fall 08.
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I forgot to mention this earlier in the week, but Heath Pierce's team Hansa Rostock has been relegated from the Bundesliga 1.
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DaMarcus Beasley did not dress for Rangers loss in the UEFA Cup final last night. The score was 2-0 to Zenit.
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CONCACAF News

Yesterday the Federation announced details for the first ever CONCACAF Champions League. The games begin late this summer and conclude with the final in late April 09. This gives us all the teams that have or will qualify, and dates for draws and matches. I can't wait.
-Here are the USA teams:
USA1 - 2007 Major League Soccer Champion (Houston Dynamo)
USA2 - 2007 Major League Soccer’s Regular Season Winner (DC United)
USA3 - 2007 MLS Cup Runner-up (New England Revolution)
USA4 - 2007 MLS Regular Season Runner-up* (Chivas USA)
*Slot allocated to the 2007 US Open Cup Champion, but New England Revolution already earned USA3, therefore Chivas USA qualifies as the next highest team (overall points) from 2007 MLS Regular Season
-USA1 & USA2 will go straight into the Group Stage (4 groups of 4 teams) which begin Sep 16.
-USA3 & USA4 will play in the home & away Preliminary Round beginning Aug 26.
-The draw for all of this happens on Jun 11.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

Guatemala has re-hired coach Ramon Maradiaga to run their first round of qualifiers. He has a fantastic nickname El Primitivo! Have you ever seen him? He is primitive alright.
-FIFA.com with an article on Guate.
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Mexico & FMF News

Quarterfinals 1st leg Matches & Scores
-Wed May 14
Chiapas 1-0 Cruz Azul - Chia goal by Itamar Batista.
Monterrey 4-1 Guadalajara - Mont goals by Jared Borgetti(3!) & Humberto Suazo(PK). Guad goal by Ramon Morales(PK).
-Thu May 15
Necaxa v Santos
Toluca v San Luis
Quarterfinals 2nd leg Matches & Scores (1st leg scores included):
-Sat May 17
Cruz Azul v Chiapas (0-1)
Guadalajara v Monterrey (1-4)
-Sun May 18
Santos v Necaxa (-)
San Luis v Toluca (-)
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Copa Libertadores

Quarterfinal 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 14
Sao Paulo 1-0 Fluminense - SP goal by Adriano.
Boca Juniors 2-2 Atlas - Boca goals by Hugo Ayala(OG) & Julio Cesar Caceres. Atl goals by Omar Flores & Jorge Torres.
-Thu May 15
America v Santos
San Lorenzo v LDU Quito
Quarterfinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (1st leg scores included):
-Wed May 21
Fluminense v Sao Paulo (0-1)
Atlas v Boca Juniors (2-2)
-Thu May 22
Santos v America (-)
LDU Quito v San Lorenzo (-)
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The knockout rounds bracket.
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English Championship Division Promotion Playoffs

Playoff 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st Leg results included):
-Tue May 13
Bristol City 2-1 Crystal Palace - Bristol City advance 4-2 on aggregate.
-Wed May 14
Hull 4-1 Watford - Hull advance 6-1 on aggregate.
Playoff Final Match & Score:
-Sat May 24
Bristol City v Hull at Wembley
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European News

Italy

Like their counterparts from Rome, Inter fans have been banned from traveling to their teams final game in Parma. Police feel the chances for violence are just too great.
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Gazzetta with an article on Roma rightback Cicinho who says, "We will win the title."
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Germany

This weekend will see the final fussball days of Oliver Kahn. He retires after the match on Saturday at home v Hertha Berlin. Long may you roam the world free you big goofy bastard!
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Relegation In Spain

2 teams have already been dropped, and a 1 more team will join them on this final weekend of the season.
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Here are the standings and Matches & Scores:
-Sun May 18
44 Valladolid at Recreativo Huelva
43 Recreativo Huelva v Valladolid
43 Osasuna at Racing Santander
42 Real Zaragoza at Mallorca
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30 Real Murcia
26 Levante
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Relegation In Italy

1 team has already been dropped, and 2 more will join them on this final weekend of the season.
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Here are the standings and Matches & Scores:
-Sun May 18
36 Catania v Roma
34 Parma v Inter
33 Empoli v Livorno
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30 Livorno
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Relegation In Germany

2 teams have already been dropped, and a 1 more team will join them on this final weekend of the season.
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Here are the standings and Matches & Scores:
-Sat May 17
33 Arminia Bielefeld at Stuttgart
31 Nurberg v Schalke
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29 Duisburg
27 Hansa Rostock
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UEFA Cup

Final in Manchester at the City of Manchester Stadium.
Match & Score:
-Wed May 14
Zenit 2-0 Rangers - Zen goals by Igor Denisov & Konstantin Zyrianov.
Match report from UEFA.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune says that even though Zenit won and Rangers play was ugly, the real story is that the Rangers fans were much uglier.
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Not the best picture here, but funny none the less. A Rangers fan gets taken down by a police dog.
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Jack Bell on the New York Times blog Goal gives us a UEFA Cup A to Z.
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Euro League Cup Competitions

English FA Cup Final (Wembley Stadium - London)
Match & Score:
-Sat May 17
Cardiff City v Portsmouth