OK To Ask Quirky Questions Now News

MLS Scoreboard

Week 7
Matches & Scores:
-Thu May 8
DC v Chicago - 6:30pm central on ESPN2
-Sat May 10
Houston v Colorado - 7:30pm central on FSC
Salt Lake v Dallas - 8pm central on Direct TV
San Jose v Columbus - 9pm central on Direct TV
Los Angeles v New York - 9:30pm central on HDNet
-Sun May 10
Chivas USA v New England - 2pm central on TeleFutura
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Serving suspensions this week:
Roger Espinoza - Kansas City - 1 game
Claudio Suarez - Chivas USA - 1 game
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with an article on goalkeeper John Busch. Quietly having an impressive season.
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Arroyave on his blog The Red Card with some Fire notes.
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CD CHIVAS USA

Defender Lawson Vaughn was injured pretty bad this weekend when he got kicked in the face.
-We got this press release from Chivas USA:
Chivas USA defender Lawson Vaughn is expected to be sidelined between four and six weeks after undergoing surgery for a broken nose and lacerated cheek suffered Saturday during Chivas USA’s match at the Houston Dynamo. The injury occurred in the 9th minute when Vaughn, leaping to head a cross in the penalty area, was kicked in the face by Houston midfielder Dwayne De Rosario, who was attempting a bicycle kick on the play.
Vaughn underwent surgery on Sunday afternoon at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance, Calif. The procedure, performed by Jay W. Granzow MD, included a surgical repair of Vaughn’s nose, which was broken in several places, as well as repair to a laceration on his right cheek, which required 32 stitches.
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COLUMBUS CREW

Steve Sirk at MLSnet with his always fantastic weekly look at the Crew. Lots of info, lots of humor and lots of what most teams in MLS could use a healthy dose of.
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Surprising midfielder Adam Moffat injured his right knee last weekend against Kansas City, and it turns out to be a meniscal tear. He will miss at least 2 weeks.
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Steve Davis at MLSnet tries to figure out how the Crew are doing it.
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DC UNITED

VW is the official shirt sponsor now. Here is a pic from the team.
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Pat Walsh of Goal.com looks at the seemingly un-United DC team.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Andrea Canales at Soccernet talks to new Houston team owner & boxing legend Oscar de la Hoya.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle says the Dynamo are going to try and re-sign striker Joseph Ngwenya now that his season is over in Austria (and it went so poorly for him there.)
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Jack Bell of the New York Times with an article on LA & USA star Landon Donovan.
-And a full Q & A with Donovan.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports on David Beckham - LA goal scorer.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

American Soccer News does a Q & A with midfielder Shalrie Joseph.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with an article on Rev's coach Steven Nicol who has been getting some TV time as an analyst for ESPN's Champions League coverage.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

NYRB striker Jozy Altidore at the New York Times blog Goal tells us about his first speeding ticket! And plenty of stuff about his team.
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New York has reached a contract agreement with defender Andrew Boyens. The New Zealander played for Toronto last year. The deal is not yet complete though because they have to make a spot on their roster for him. The scenario going around has rookie Eric Brunner being bumped from his senior contract back down to a developemental contract. There were also untrue reports that Brunner was AWOL.
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Brian Lewis of the NY Post blog Extra Time says the stories about Brunner aren't correct. We shall see.
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To make room for Boyens, Red Bull New York placed midfielder Michael Palacio on the team’s Season Ending Injury List.
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REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret News writes about how RSL feel "wronged" by the referees! Oh please. Get in the long excuse line punks. Just shut up and win one why don't ya.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

American Soccer Reader has a Q & A with defender Jason Hernandez.
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Goal.com has a Q & A with forward Kei Kamara.
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GENERAL

David Beckham has been named MLS Player Of The Week.
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Steve Davis at MLSnet with his thoughts from around the league. (Scroll down past Columbus article at top.)
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Davis also writing for Soccernet gives us the ten things we need to know from last weeks matches.
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Nick Green of the Daily Breeze looks at the players who did not or have not lived up to their potential.
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Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com reviews the weekend past.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger on the early season dominance from the Eastern Conference.
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Often mentioned MLS target Darren Huckerby was released by Norwich. Will someone here go after him? Columbus?
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Former MLS Player News

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune reports that former Chicago Fire goalkeeper Matt Pickens only lasted 4 months at Queens Park Rangers and was released by the team yesterday. He did not get any action with the first team. Now where does he go?
-Arroyave has a few more Pickens notes on his blog The Red Card.
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USL First Division News

The First & Second Division Teams of the Week have been announced.
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Minnesota Thunder

Goalkeeper Nic Platter was named USL First Division Player Of The Week.
-2 other Thunder players, Kevin Taylor & Alen Marcina were also named in the best 11.
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Got this note from a fellow Thunder fan last night:
This is Austin, I host a radio show on the University of St. Thomas website with my friend Adam.
Every Thursday at 10pm central time we do a show all about soccer. We focus on the Premier League, Champions League and MLS.
This week (May 8) we're having Kevin Friedland & possibly Nick Platter of the Minnesota Thunder as guests on the show and we'd really like you to check it out.
You can find us here and click 'Listen Live' on the sidebar.
Currently we are not podcasted but we plan to be shortly.
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USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Thu May 8
Portland v Rochester
-Fri May 9
Charleston v Miami
-Sat May 10
Carolina v Atlanta
Minnesota v Montreal
Seattle v Portland
Vancouver v Rochester
-Wed May 14
Charleston v Montreal
Seattle v Rochester
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USA U20

Andrew Rogers at Soccernet looks at the next group of USA U20 players for their World Cup in 2009. They play a series of games in England this week, and I will have that schedule reposted tomorrow.
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USA Olympic Team

The USA U23 team will be playing in the Toulon Tournament in France May 20-29. Holland, Japan, Chile, Turkey, Italy, Ivory Coast, the USA & hosts France make up the 8 team field.
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Our boys Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 21
USA v Turkey
-Fri May 23
USA v Ivory Coast
-Sun May 25
USA v Italy

Semifinals on May 27
Final is May 29
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All games will be shown live on Fox Soccer Channel.
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The USA roster will be announced soon.
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Soccer In America

A non, but not anti, soccer guy at the Bleacher Report tries to answer the question as to why soccer isn't more popular in America.
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Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle looks at the ever changing landscape in American youth soccer, and the push from US Soccer to increase quality.
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Americans In Europe

Michael Bradley's season ended yesterday when Heerenveen were eliminated from the Eredivisie Champions League spot playoffs. The got beat by Ajax 5-2 on aggregate. To make matters worse Bradley got 2 Yellow Cards and was ejected from what will probably be his last game with the club. He scored 19 goals for them this season.
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The Liverpool Echo says Everton are very serious about acquiring Michael Bradley. Team officials have been scouting Bradley including last night.
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Ravi Ubha at Soccernet talks to Oguchi Onyewu about the next step in his career. England did not work out last year, so does he try it again after regaining top form in Belgium this season?
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Americans in Mexico

Luis Bueno at his Sideline Views blog fills us in on the last weekend of the a season for our boys in Mexico.
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Bueno also at the Press Enterprise with an overview on American's playing for teams in Mexico, then and now.
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Canadian National Team News

Just weeks after turning down Canada and declaring himself a Netherlands player, Jonathan de Guzman was NOT included in the initial 30 player squad for Holland at Euro 2008. Oof.
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Copa Libertadores

Round of 16, 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (1st leg scores included):
-Tue May 6
Fluminense v Atletico Nacional (1-2)
Atlas v Lanus (1-0)
Estudiantes v LDU Quito (0-2)
-Wed May 7
Sao Paulo v Nacional (0-0)
Cruzeiro v Boca Juniors (1-2)
Flamengo v America (4-2)
-Thu May 8
River Plate v San Lorenzo (1-2)
Cucuta Deportivo v Santos (0-2)
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England News

Jonathan Wilson at the Guardian gives us some insight on Tottenham's newly signed Croatian midfielder Luka Modric. He is compared to Juan Roman Riquelme of Boca Juniors.
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Gazzetta in Italy says Arsenal midfielder Matthieu Flamini was in Milan today, took a physical and signed a contract to play for Milan next season.
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The Liverpool Daily Post says the plans for a new Liverpool stadium have been given the green light.
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European News

The heavy duty rumor mill in Spain says that Josep Guardiola has been hired to replace Frank Rijkaard as coach of Barcelona. The teams former star player is currently one of their youth coaches.
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Ben Lyttleton of the Guardian on the struggles of Lyon who are going for their 7th consecutive Ligue Un title.
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Hamburg has hired Dutchman Martin Jol as their coach for next season. He last coached at Tottenham.
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Reuters Soccer Blog wonder where Italy & Milan star Generro Gattuso will be playing next year. Probably not in Milan.
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Fiorentina's star striker Adrian Mutu has been suspended for the final 2 games of the season for insulting the referee.
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Football Italia's winner and losers from week 36 of Serie A.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the championships won last weekend by Real & Bayern: Champagne in Madrid and Beer in Munich
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Phil Ball at Soccernet gives us the full story on Real Madrid's big win.
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Euro League Cup Competitions

-Coupe de France- Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue May 6
Amiens v Paris St Germain
Lyon v Sedan Ardennes
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-Coppa Italia- Semifinals
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Wed May 7
Lazio v Inter (0-0)
Catania v Roma (0-1)
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Big Euro Club Matches This Week

Matches & Scores:
-Wed May 7
Real Madrid v Barcelona - only playing for pride now that Real has claimed the title.
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Eredivisie Champions League Spot Playoffs

Semifinal 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
CL Qualifier Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (1st round scores included):
-Sat May 3
NAC Breda 1-5 Twente - Twente advance 8-1 on aggregate.
-Mon May 5
Ajax 3-1 Heerenveen - Ajax advance 5-2 on aggregate.
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2008 UEFA European Championship

FIFA does a Q & A with Italian coach Robert Donadoni, as the tournament quickly approaches - it starts one month from tomorrow.
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World News

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times looks at the "Football Hooligan" and wonders if they are gone for good. But what about actual terrorists, will they play a role in disturbing world football?
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FIFA.com with a great piece of World Cup history, take us back to 1993 as France & Bulgaria battled for a spot at USA 94.