Are You Down With The People News

The Euro 08 Semifinals are set - Germany v Turkey on Wednesday and Russia v Spain on Thursday. See details in Euro 2008 Schedule section below.


MLS Scoreboard

Week 13
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jun 18
New England 1-1 New York - NER goal by Steve Ralston. NYRB goal by Seth Stammler.
Attendance: 10,596
Salt Lake 0-0 San Jose
Attendance: 10,333
-Thu Jun 19
Chivas USA 2-0 Chicago - CUSA goals by Sacha Kljestan & Justin Braun.
Attendance: 24,143
-Sat Jun 21
Toronto 0-0 Kansas City
Attendance: 20,293
Match report from the Toronto Globe & Mail.
Match report by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Match report from the National Post.
Match report from the Kansas City Star.
New York 1-0 Dallas - NYRB goal by Kevin Goldthwaite.
Attendance: 16,427
Match report by Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
Match report by Brian Lewis of the NY Post.
Match report by Stefan Bondy of the Herald News.
Match report by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Match report from the Fort Worth Star Telegram penned by none other than Ives Galarcep.
Match report from the Dallas Morning News.
Post game analysis from Metrofanatic.
Post game notes on NY midfielder Sinisia Ubiparipovic by B Lewis of the NY Post on the papers Extra Time blog.
Post game notes on NY midfielder/defender Carlos Mendes by B Lewis of the NY Post on the papers Extra Time blog.
Post game notes on NY midfielder Sinisia Ubiparipovic by Dylan Butler of Big Apple Soccer.
Colorado 0-0 Houston
Attendance: 13,220
Match report by Brian Forbes of the Denver Post.
Match report by the AP from the Rocky Mountain News.
Match report from the Houston Chronicle.
Post game notes by George Tanner of FC Rocky from the Rocky Mountain News.
Salt Lake 2-1 New England - RSL goals by Jay Heaps(OG) & Tino Nunez. NER goal by Adam Cristman.
Attendance: 11,965
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret News.
Match report by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Player ratings for RSL by Michael Black at the Deseret News RSL blog.
Post game notes by Edward.
Post game notes on RSL forward Tino Nunez by Black.
Post game notes on RSL forward Tino Nunez by Sunnie Redhouse of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Post game analysis by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Los Angeles 3-3 Columbus - LAG goals by Landon Donovan(2 - one PK) & Edson Buddle. CC goals by Brad Evans, Guillermo Barros Schelotto(PK) & Steven Lenhart.
Attendance: 27,000
Match report by Scott Wolf of the Daily News.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match report by Andrea Canales at Soccernet.
Post game notes by Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer.
Post game notes by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Post game analysis by Mitchell.
Post game notes by Mitchell on his blog Covering The Crew.
-Sun Jun 22
DC 3-1 San Jose - DCU goals by Clyde Simms, Gonzalo Martinez & Luciano Emilio. SJE goal by John Cunliffe.
Attendance: 17,922
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Match report by Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner.
Match report by Chris Webb of United Mania.
Match report from the San Jose Mercury News by our main man Dave Lifton.
Match report by Jay Hipps for Center Line Soccer.
Player ratings for DC by Goff on his blog Soccer Insider.
Post game notes by Hipps.
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Ejections:
Jason Hernandez - San Jose - 2 Yellow Cards
Paolo Nagamura - Chivas USA - 2 Yellow Cards
Roger Espinoza - Kansas City - Red Card
James Riley - San Jose - Red Card
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MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
27 New England (15)
23 Columbus (13)
21 Toronto (13)
19 Chicago (12) (GD +9)
19 DC (14) (GD -1)
19 New York (13) (GD -3)
12 Kansas City (13)
Western Conference
21 Los Angeles (13)
19 Salt Lake (14)
18 Houston (14)
17 Chivas (13)
16 Colorado (13) (GD +1)
16 Dallas (14) (GD -3)
11 San Jose (13)
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Goal Differential is first tie breaker.
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

The latest from the Toronto Sun on the Brian McBride sweepstakes.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman grabbed the 72nd clean sheet of his career. The most by anyone ever in MLS.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Chris Klein played in his 98th straight match on Saturday.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Andrew Hush at Soccernet looks at the possibility of Taylor Twellman still leaving the team for Europe in the upcoming transfer window. (Second half of the article)
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Stefan Bondy of the Herald News shows that the little guys who make no money are the ones carrying the Red Bulls. While the big money man is a major flop.
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple on the mysterious rash of hamstring injuries that is plaguing NYRB.
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REAL SALT LAKE

The teams former General Manager Steve Pastorino occasionally writes for the Deseret News about his old team - this article about the teams continued struggles was posted before their win this weekend. He does not have high praise for Scottish forward Kenny Deuchar.
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James Edward of the Deseret News sees genuine team progress for the first time in RSL history.
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TORONTO FC

The Globe & Mail on TFC's road woe's, where they head next weekend to take on first place New England.
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The Sun with the latest on the Brian McBride sweepstakes.
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GENERAL

Forbes ran a very interesting list recently on the most over paid bench warmers in MLS. but when you compare what MLS guys get paid to other pro sports in America, those other guys wages are beyond obscene. (thanks to Gayle for sending us this one)
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Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated looks at the growing phenomenon of big name players using MLS to drive up European salary possibilities.
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Jonah Freedman also from SI shows talks to people from around MLS who have connections to the current European Championship.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet rounds up last weeks matches.
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Steven Goff on his blog Soccer Insider with The Good, The Bad and the Coyote Ugly from MLS last week.
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MLS Golden Boot

11 Landon Donovan
9 Edson Buddle
8 Luciano Emilio
7 Kenny Cooper
6 Alejandro Moreno
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

3rd Degree reports that MLS has turned down a $1million offer for Dallas forward Kenny Cooper, from an unnamed European team. Good.
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US Open Cup

Lots of 2nd Round games coming on Tuesday night!
Matches & Scores:
Carolina Railhawks v Real Maryland Monarchs
Richmond Kickers v Western Mass Pioneers
Minnesota Thunder v Cleveland City Stars
Pittsburgh Riverhounds v Rochester Rhinos
Atlanta Silverbacks v Miami FC Blues
Charlotte Eagles v Charleston Battery
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Harrisburg City Islanders
Seattle Sounders v Hollywood United
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USL First Division - Minnesota Thunder News

My team, the Minnesota Thunder, went to Charleston on Friday night and got a point from yet another Ricardo Sanchez wonder goal. He hit a blast from 35 yards out that gave the keeper no chance to save. Wow can he shoot from distance.
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The bad news is that we dropped 2 more places in the standings and are now sitting in 7th with only 4 teams under us. The good part is that a very long homestand on a brand new field is almost here.
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USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jun 20
Rochester 3-3 Carolina
Charleston 1-1 Minnesota
Seattle 0-0 Miami
-Sat Jun 21
Atlanta 3-1 Puerto Rico
-Sun Jun 22
Montreal 3-0 Carolina
Vancouver 1-1 Miami
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USL First Division Standings

23 Vancouver (12)
21 Charleston (12)
18 Portland (14)
18 Seattle (12)
17 Atlanta (12)
17 Montreal (13)
16 Minnesota (12)
16 Miami (16)
14 Carolina (12)
11 Rochester (11)
9 Puerto Rico (9)
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Team USA

2nd Round 2nd leg CONCACAF World Cup qualifying Match & Score (includes score from first leg):
-Sun Jun 22
Barbados 0-1 USA - USA advance 9-0 on aggregate. - USA goal by Eddie Lewis.
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Match report from the Barbados Advocate, who pretended that last weekends 8-0 mauling didn't happen.
Post game analysis by Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer.
Post game analysis by Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives.
Post game analysis by Andrew Hush at Soccernet.
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This is one of those games best left forgotten. The motivation factor for the USA was absolute zero. And it was probably a good thing that is was scheduled directly opposite the Euro 08 quarterfinal, that way very few people actually saw it. It was a bit depressing to watch honestly.
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I am trying to figure out why all the advertising boards in Barbados were for the USL First Division? Anyone?
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US Soccer gives us audio of coach Bradley's post game press conference.
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US Soccer also gives us post game quotes from Bradley and players.
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By the way, here is satellite image of the stadium where the game was played.
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The news slid in at the last minute by Dallas midfielder Brek Shea was on the USA Roster for this game.
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The official team blog.
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The next USA match will be August 20th in Guatemala starting off the next round of World Cup qualifying.
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Soccer In America

Maria Burns Ortiz of Soccernet with an article on Brad Friedel's youth academy in Ohio.
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The Toronto Globe & Mail with an article that tries to give the impression ESPN has never shown a soccer game before, and that somehow live games on TV in America from Europe now is revolutionary.
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CONCACAF News

The only upset in the entire round of qualifying was El Salvador beat Panama. So can someone remind me again why this round was played?
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Fri Jun 20
Canada 4-1 St Vincent & Grenadines - Can advance 7-1 on aggregate.
-Sat Jun 21
St Lucia 1-3 Guatemala - Guat adv 9-1 on agg.
Costa Rica 3-0 Grenada - CR adv 5-2 on agg.
Mexico 7-0 Belize - Mex adv 9-0 on agg.
-Sun Jun 22
Barbados 0-1 USA - USA adv 9-0 on agg.
Guyana 1-2 Suriname - Sur adv 3-1 on agg.
Cuba 4-0 Antigua & Barbuda - Cuba adv 8-3 on agg.
El Salvador 3-1 Panama - ES adv 3-2 on agg.
Netherlands Antilles 0-1 Haiti - Hai adv 1-0 on agg.
Bermuda 0-2 Trinidad & Tobago - TNT adv 3-2 on agg.
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Here are the 3 groups for the Semifinal Round:
Group A
USA
Guatemala
Trinidad & Tobago
Cuba
Group B
Mexico
Jamaica
Honduras
Canada
Group C
Costa Rica
Suriname
El Salvador
Haiti
-The top 2 from each group advance to the final Hexagonal Group Stage, where the top 3 qualify for the World Cup, and the 4th place team plays a home and away series with the 5th place team from CONMEBOL for a final WC spot.
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South American News

The Observer reports that it's all but over for Dunga as coach of Brazil.
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The Observer has a Q & A with a forgotten star of Brazil's not so distant past - Rai.
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England News

Paul Ince has been officially named manager of Blackburn Rovers. Major historical note: He is the first British citizen of African ancestry to manage a top division club in England. The Times with an article.
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Here is an article showing everything WRONG with English football journalism:
The Guardian lead the charge of the English press turning on Christiano Ronaldo again. I can't believe I am about to defend CR here, but this line in the article makes my blood boil: "It was such an unpleasant scene the journalists decided not to write about it ...." What a bunch of total garbage. The English press live for this kind of crap. There is no way it went down like it's written about here or it would have been the biggest headlines of the year the day after it happened. Not to mention that this is seriously ticky tacky stuff here.
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A promising young French midfielder from Marseille, Samir Nasri has signed with Arsenal.
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2008 UEFA European Championship News

Two from The Times of London:
Martin Samuel on the brilliance of Russia's manager Guus Hiddink.
The Top ten from the tournament in the transfer market.
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Three from Soccernet:
Phil Ball on the first win by Spain over Italy when it actually meant something.
Jen Chang looks ahead to the key players in the Semifinals.
Norman Hubbard lists his best 11 from the teams who did not get out of the group stage.
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Three from The Guardian:
Sid Lowe on Spain's slaying of their own personal windmill, the Italians.
Barney Ronay on Spain’s new confidence.
Richard Williams on Italy's biggest flop - Luca Toni.
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The Observer with an article on the relative youth of the coaches in the tournament.
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La Gazzetta dello Sport says Italy coach Roberto Donadoni will not resign even after defeat. So I guess that they will fire him then, cuz I just can't imagine him leading the team into World Cup qualifying.
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2008 UEFA European Championship Schedule

Quarterfinal Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jun 19
Portugal 2-3 Germany - Port goals by Nuno Gomes & Helder Postiga. Germ goals by Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose & Michael Ballack.
-Fri Jun 20
Croatia 1-1 Turkey - Game tied 0-0 after Regulation Time. Game tied 1-1 after Extra Time. Turkey win 3-1 on Penalty Kicks. - Cro goal by Ivan Klasnic. Turk goal by Semih Senturk.
-Sat Jun 21
Netherlands 1-3 Russia - Game tied 1-1 after Regulation Time. Russia win 3-1 in Extra Time. - Neth goal by Ruud van Nistelrooy. Russ goals by Roman Pavlyuchenko, Dmitri Torbinski & Andrei Arshavin.
-Sun Jun 22
Spain 0-0 Italy - Game tied 0-0 after Regulation & Extra Time. Spa win 4-2 on Penalty Kicks.
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Semifinal Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jun 25
Germany v Turkey - 1:30pm central on ESPN.
-Thu Jun 26
Russian v Spain - 1:30pm central on ESPN2.
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World News

Pitch Invasion with a very cool story on a Frenchman who scored the first goal in the first World Cup.
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The New York Times Sunday Magazine with a great personal story from an American teacher on soccer in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
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2 weeks ago Pele was robbed of his jewelry and money by at least 10 armed youth in Santos. Damn, not even a deity like Pele is safe anymore.
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Asian World Cup Qualifying

Iraq lost 1-0 to Qatar (aka Brazil Jr.) this weekend, and have now been eliminated from World Cup qualifying.
-Its a real drag because Iraq just won the Asian Cup last winter with so much pizzazz. Now they are gone.
-The Guardian on the Iraqi disappointment.
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The Sydney Herald breaks down the next round of qualifying.