A Little Less Action News

Note to Donald D Garber, Commissioner of MLS: Your team in Los Angeles called the Galaxy has 3 guys making millions, and they also have a guy named Brandon McDonald who is a regular starter making $12,900! This is insulting to him and embarrassing to your league. You need to fix this NOW. The folks running your LA franchise are too dumb to fix this. Besides, you are the Big Boss Man!


MLS Scoreboard

Week 7
Matches & Scores:
-Thu May 8
DC 0-2 Chicago - Chic goals by Justin Mapp & Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
Attendance: 18,605
-Sat May 10
Houston 2-1 Colorado - Hou goals by Brian Ching & Dwayne De Rosario(PK). Colo goal by Omar Cummings.
Attendance: 15,024
Match report by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Match report from the Denver Post.
Post game notes from Fallas.
More post game notes & Dynamo team & player ratings by Fallas on his blog Soccer y Futbol.
Salt Lake 2-1 Dallas - RSL goals by Javier Morales & Kyle Beckerman. Dal goals by Kenny Cooper.
Attendance: 12,173
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret News.
Match report from the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match report from the Dallas Morning News.
Post game notes from Edward.
Player ratings for RSL by Edwards on the Deseret RSL blog.
San Jose 2-3 Columbus - SJ goals by Ramiro Corrales & Ryan Johnson. Colu goals by Robbie Rogers(2) & Brad Evans.
Attendance: 9,318
Match report from the San Jose Mercury News.
Post games notes Pt 1 from Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Post games notes Pt 2 from Mitchell.
Los Angeles 1-2 New York - LA goal by Alan Gordon. NY goals by Danleigh Borman & Juan Pablo Angel.
Attendance: 27,000
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match report by Scott Wolf of the LA Daily News.
Match report by Stefan Bondy of the Herald News.
Post game notes by Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his 100 Percent Soccer blog. Very good stuff.
Post game notes and NY player ratings by Jack Bell of the New York Times blog Goal.
-Sun May 10
Chivas USA 1-2 New England - Chiv goal by Justin Braun. NE goals by Kenny Mansally & Taylor Twellman.
Attendance: 10,927
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report from the LA Times.
Match report by Phil Collin of the Daily Breeze.
Post game notes by Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his 100 Percent Soccer blog. Very good stuff.
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Red Cards:
Tom McManus - Colorado (was on the bench at the time he was sent off)
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MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
18 Columbus (7)
16 Chicago (7)
13 New England (8)
11 New York (6)
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 says the conflicts with defender Wilman Conde who demanded to be traded earlier this year, and then made up with the team, are back again. Not good.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports on "the seven sins of Cuauhtemoc Blanco." (from last week - sorry)
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CD CHIVAS USA

Defender Jonathan Bornstein suffered a sprained lateral collateral ligament in his left knee in practice at the end of last week. He is to be out of action almost 2 months. Not good for club or country.
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The team made several roster moves at the end of the week as well:
1. Acquire midfielder Carey Talley from RSL for future draft pick (TBA)
2. Defender Dan Gargan retires - he had a bad knee injury
3. Defender Chris Pozniak is released
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And on Sunday they started 2 players and subbed in another that I had never even heard of. Where are they getting these guys?:
-Erik Ebert - rightback
-Bobby Burling - leftback
-Daniel Paladini - defensive midfield
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Phil Collin of the Daily Breeze talks to midfielder Sacha Kljestan about defensive responsibilities.
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A note from Nick Green's 100 Percent Soccer blog: After the Chivas USA v Galaxy game last week a member of Legion 1908 committed an "act of violence" against a Galaxy fan and was suspended for two games.
In solidarity, members of Legion 1908 decided to boycott today's game.
The team has adoped a no violence policy in the wake of several reported instances of fan problems, including a stabbing of a Chivas USA fan in Houston, club officials said.
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COLUMBUS CREW

Forward Robbie Rogers has told reporters that he is very motivated right now after his Olympic team snub.
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Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated with an article on the surprising Columbus Crew - tops in the league after 7 weeks.
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FC DALLAS

Forward Kenny Cooper has been called for Offside more than any other player in the league so far this season.
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DC UNITED

Mike Wise of the Washington Post with a feature article on Ben Olsen.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle on the story one very sick kid and his friendship with players Stuart Holden & Craig Waibel.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Bob Luder of the KC Star looks at the Wizards who had the weekend off.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

David Beckham was named to the initial roster for England's 2 upcoming matches - May 28 in London v USA & Jun 1 in Port of Spain v Trinidad & Tobago.
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And what happens to LA in few weeks when Becks, Landy & Pescadito all go away to play for their national teams? At that point any First Division team could hand them their head on a platter. Brutal.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe on Taylor Twellman injuring his ankle in the game.
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It only took Twellman 14 minutes to score his first goal of the season. He had yet to play due to a knee injury and came on at half time Sunday. The bad news is that he had 3 other fantastic chances that he did not finish. Was that the bum ankle?
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Midfielder Sainey Nyassi got a new contract last week that puts him on the Rev's senior roster. Good for him, he earned it.
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Don Cuddy at Soccer365 looks at the Rev's up and down season so far.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Stefan Bondy of the Herald News ponders the smallish NYRB home crowds and how the team will lure people to the new stadium when it opens next season.
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REAL SALT LAKE

The Deseret News with a post game article on seldom used midfielder Kenny Cutler. I believe Cutler still gets his haircut by his Mom out in the backyard.
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The Salt Lake Tribune gives us more pretty lame journalism - "I don't like games that end in a tie....." whine whine whine.
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The Seattle Post Intelligencer with an article on their native son Nick Besagno. Besagno has struggled with injuries and over hype and has barely seen the field in his 3 plus years in MLS.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

George Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News blog FC Rocky tells that we have had San Jose forward Jean Phillipe Pegruero's name all wrong - it's really Peguero Jean Phillipe. I am not kidding.
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Elliot Almond of the Mercury News with a nice big story on Jean Phillipe.
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GENERAL

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune asks 10 players about Mothers Day. Nice.
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With Barcelona now officially wedged into 3rd place in La Liga, they will have to play in the opening qualifying rounds of the Champions League next season, making their trip to the USA all but impossible. So, I would not count on those previously rumored exhibition games happening.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog gives us his weekly round up - The Good, The Bad and The Coyote Ugly.
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MLS Friendlies

-Tue May 13
Vancouver (USL1D) v Los Angeles in Edmonton
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MLS Expansion News

The Seattle Post Intelligencer says current Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer is being considered for the head coaches job next season when the teams moves up a division. An interesting fact about Schmetzer is that he is related to Brain Setzer of the Stray Cats, and was the inspiration for the hit song "Stray Cat Strut".
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USL First Division News

Minnesota Thunder

My team won their 3rd game of the season on Saturday night pulling off a 1-0 win over Montreal. The game was incredibly even and hard fought for the full 90 aka not pretty. But from some great effort by subs and huge pile of late pressure Melvin Tarley headed home a cross from former Montreal player Frederico Moojen for the games only glorious goal. Minnesota now has 3 wins and 2 draws in the last 5 meetings with mighty Montreal.
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USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Thu May 8
Portland 0-0 Rochester
-Fri May 9
Charleston 3-1 Miami - Char goals by Randi Patterson(2) & Osvaldo Alonso. Mia goal by Alex Afonso
-Sat May 10
Carolina 2-2 Atlanta - Caro goals by Dan Antoniuk & Jamil Walker. Atl goals by Jason McLaughlin & David Hayes
Minnesota 1-0 Montreal - Minn goal by Melvin Tarley
Match report from the Minnesota Thunder.
Match report from the Montreal Impact.
Seattle 0-0 Portland
Vancouver 1-0 Rochester - Van goal by Eduardo Sebrango
-Wed May 14
Charleston v Montreal
Seattle v Rochester
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USL First Division Standings

Points - Team - (games played)
11 Portland (5)
9 Minnesota (4)
8 Carolina (4)
8 Charleston (5)
6 Vancouver (3)
6 Montreal (5)
5 Seattle (4)
5 Atlanta (4)
4 Miami (6)
3 Puerto Rico (4)
1 Rochester (4)
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Team USA

Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein injured his left knee in practice at the end of last week, and will be out of action almost 2 months. So no USA call ups coming soon for him. Leaving the team again very thin at leftback.
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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 0-2 USA - USA goals by Jorge Flores & Chris Agorsor. USA played 56 minutes with 10 men.
-Thu May 8
Manchester United Reserves v USA - USA goals both by Peri Marosevic.
-Fri May 9
Liverpool Reserves v USA
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USA Olympic Team

The teams heads to France this week for the Toulon Tournament.
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Here is the roster:
G:
Dominic Cervi - no team
Chris Seitz - Real Salt Lake
Quentin Westburg - Troyes
D:
Anthony Beltran - Real Salt Lake
Eric Brunner - no team
Kyle Davies - Southampton
Michael Gavin - Los Angeles Galaxy
Kamani Hill - Wolfsburg
Jonathan Leathers - Kansas City Wizards
Brek Shea - Dallas
Julian Valentin - Los Angeles Galaxy
Rob Valentino - New England Revolution
Blake Wagner - Dallas
M:
Bryan Arguez - Hertha Berlin
Corey Ashe - Houston Dynamo
Greg Dalby - Charleroi
Benny Feilhaber - Derby County
Lee Nguyen - Randers
F:
Gabe Ferrari - Sampdoria
Bryan Jordan - Los Angeles Galaxy
Ellis McLoughlin - Hertha Berlin
Sammy Ochoa - UAG Tecos
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Here is the game schedule.
Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 21
USA v Turkey
-Fri May 23
USA v Ivory Coast
-Sun May 25
USA v Italy
-Tue May 27
Semifinals
-Thu May 29
Final
All games will be shown live on Fox Soccer Channel.
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Americans In Europe

In the end, 4 Americans were relegated from the Premiership - Eddie Lewis & Benny Feilhaber with Derby County, and Marcus Hahnemann & Bobby Convey with Reading. Sad.
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The good news is the that 5 Americans at Fulham survived the drop by pulling off a near miracle.
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Another American avoided the drop in England too. American Soccer Daily talks to Frank Simek about this team Sheffield United staying in the Championship Division for next year. Simek has been injured for a long time now with an ankle problem.
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Greg Seltzer of ASD also covers Michael Bradley & Heerenveen as they beat NAC Breda 4-2 on aggregate to qualify for the UEFA Cup again next season. Congrats.
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Mexico & FMF News

First round 1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 7
Pachuca 0-1 San Luis - SL goal by Eduardo Coudet.
-Thu May 8
Atlas 1-1 Necaxa - Atl goal by Juan Carlos Medina. Nec goal by Angel Reyna.
First round 2nd leg Matches & Scores (1st leg scores included):
-Sat May 10
San Luis 1-2 Pachua - series ends tied 2-2 but Pachuca advance on some odd Mexican rule.
-Sun May 11
Necaxa 0-0 Atlas - series also ends tied, 1-1, and Necaxa advance on the strange rule.
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Quarterfinals 1st leg Matches & Scores
-Wed May 14
Chiapas v Cruz Azul
Monterrey v Guadalajara
-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 (-)
Guadalajara v Monterrey (-)
-Sun May 18
Santos v Necaxa (-)
San Luis v Toluca (-)
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South American News

Embele Awipi of the Salinas Californian writes about Brazilians leaving their native country to become citizens somewhere else so they can play national team soccer.
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Copa Libertadores

Quarterfinal 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 14
Sao Paulo v Fluminense
Boca Juniors v Atlas
-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 (-)
Atlas v Boca Juniors (-)
-Thu May 22
Santos v America (-)
LDU Quito v San Lorenzo (-)
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The knockout rounds bracket.
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England News

Not only did Ryan Giggs come on and score the championship winning insurance goal for Manchester United on Sunday, but he also tied the teams all-time appearance record at 758. That is quite staggering.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo sports names his Premiership best 11.
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According to some calculations a team being demoted from the Premiership will lose out on $42 Million Pounds next season. That is insane.
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English Championship Division Promotion Playoffs

In case you missed it, West Bromich Albion & Stoke have been promoted to the Premiership for next season. Hull, Bristol City, Crystal Palace & Watford will play off for the third and final spot.
Playoff 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Sat May 10
Crystal Palace (5th) 1-2 Bristol City (4th)
-Sun May 11
Watford (6th) 0-2 Hull (1st)
Playoff 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st Leg results included):
-Tue May 13
Bristol City v Crystal Palace (1-2)
-Wed May 14
Hull v Watford (2-0)
Playoff Final Match & Score:
-Sat May 24
3rd-6th Winner v 4th-5th Winner
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Big Euro Club Matches This Weekend

Premiership Championship:
-Manchester United are the winners for the 10th time in the 16th season of the Premiership.
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Matches & Scores
-Sun May 11
87 Wigan 0-2 Manchester United
85 Chelsea 1-1 Bolton

Premiership Relegation:
(goal differential is the first tie breaker)
Stay Up Matches & Scores
-Sun May 11
37 Chelsea 1-1 Bolton
36 Portsmouth 1-0 Fulham (-22)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Go down Matches & Scores
-Sun May 11
36 Derby 0-4 Reading (-25)
35 Birmingham 4-1 Blackburn
11 Derby 0-4 Reading
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Serie A Championship - Inter & Roma at the top with 1 game now left to play.
(Head to Head is the first tie breaker which Inter hold 5-2)
Matches & Scores:
-Sun May 11
81 Inter 2-2 Siena - the idiot Marco Materazzi insisted on taking a Penalty Kick and fluffed it!
78 Roma 2-1 Atalanta
-Sun May 18
82 Parma v Inter - Parma are in the last relegation spot and must win
81 Catania v Roma - Catania are in the spot above relegation and must win
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Ligue 1 Championship - Lyon & Bordeaux at the top with 1 game now left to play.
(Goal Difference is the first tie breaker)
Matches & Scores:
-Sat May 10
73 Lyon 1-0 Nancy Lorraine
71 Bordeaux 2-0 Sochaux
-Sat May 17
76 Lens v Bordeaux (+35)
73 Auxerre v Lyon (+27)
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Turkish Super Lig Championship
-Galatasaray win the title on the final day of the season!
Matches & Scores:
-Sun May 11
79 Galatasaray 2-0 Genclerbirligi
73 Trabzonspor 2-0 Fenerbahce