The Greatest Of All Imporant Vital News

First of all A massive thanks goes out to the following individuals who made du Nord possbile while I took a couple of weeks away from the action. They are very talented people, and I am humbled by them.

Thank You:
Luis Arroyave - The Red Card
Luis Bueno - Sideline Views
Ben Burton - Section 8 Chicago
Andrea Canales - Sideline Views
Zach Dundas - Eleven Devils
Graham Fox - Unaffiliated
Adam Spangler - This Is American Soccer
Matt Olson - rolu | dsgn
Shawn Francis - The Offside Rules
Dave Brett Wasser - Historic Soccer Videotapes

~and~

Tim Howard single handedly stymied Argentina on Sunday. Without his 4 or 5 great saves, the USA has no chance for a point. Let's all give him a big old South Park inspired "Tim-May" that next time we see him.

~and~

The US Open Cup moves into the First Round proper on Tuesday night, now that all the qualifying games have been completed. There are 16 games on the schedule. See US Open Cup section below for details.


Team USA

Match & Score:
-Sun Jun 8
USA 0-0 Argentina
Match report from US Soccer.
Post game quotes by USA coach & players from US Soccer
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Video highlights of the match from US Soccer.
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The official team blog.
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My notes from the game:
-Despite a decent performance against Argentina, our team has still not shown where any goals are going to come from against Barbados. That makes it three scoreless games in a row. While the players found themselves in decent, but not great goal scoring positions in all three games, there was rarely a shot taken that truly tested any of the keepers they faced. That bothers me. The good part is that Landon Donovan found himself in some OK spots last night, but his 3 weeks of rust caught up with him. Hopefully next weekend he can be more deadly, especially playing in his home stadium in LA.
-Pablo Mastroeni was shown his second yellow card, and ejected in the 71st minute after throwing away a ball after a free kick was awarded to Argentina.
-In the 84th minute Argentina's Javier Mascherano was shown his 2nd Yellow Card and ejected as well. He was on the verge of having 4 or 5 Yellows given to him throughout the game, but you could tell from his expression that he felt genuinely bad about the foul on Landon Donovan that got him tossed. It was a bad one. Luckily Donovan was uninjured.
-How about Eddie Johnson pulling a Vinny Jones on Mascherano!!!
-The down pour looked awesome! I love rain games!
-How did Kun Aguero not got a Penalty Kick when Tim Howard brought him down in the box in the second half. Howard would have even been Red Carded by some ref's.
-Gago and Gabriel Heinze both lef the elbows fly for most of the game and could consider themselves lucky not to suffer a worse fate than one Yellow apiece.
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 11
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jun 4
DC v Houston - game canceled due to heavy rain and lightning - no make up date set yet.
-Thu Jun 5
New York 1-0 Chivas USA - NYRB goal by Juan Pablo Angel.
-Fri Jun 6
New England 2-1 Dallas - NER goals by Adam Cristman & Steve Ralston(PK). FCD goal by Arturo Alvarez.
-Sat Jun 7
Columbus 0-2 San Jose - SJE goals by Ryan Johnson & Ramiro Corrales.
Chicago 1-2 DC - CF goal by Chad Barrett. DCU goals by Jaime Moreno & Luciano Emilio.
Salt Lake 0-0 Kansas City
Los Angeles 3-2 Colorado - LAG goals by Alvaro Pires, Edson Buddle & Ely Allen. CR goals by Colin Clark & Herculez Gomez.
-Sun Jun 8
Houston 3-1 Toronto - HD goals by Dwayne De Rosario & Brian Ching(2). TFC goal by Jeff Cunningham.
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Lots of Ejections:
Brad Evans - Columbus - Red Card for Serious Foul Play
James Riley - San Jose - 2 Yellow Cards
Marcelo Gallardo - DC - Red Card for Violent Conduct
Brandon Prideaux - Chicago - Red Card for Violent Conduct
Bryan Namoff - DC - 2 Yellow Cards
Alan Gordon - Los Angeles - Red Card for violent conduct
Facundo Erpen - Colorado - Red Card for violent conduct
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MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
23 New England (12)
19 Chicago (10)
19 Columbus (11)
17 Toronto (11)
15 New York (10)
13 DC (12)
12 Kansas City (10)
Western Conference
17 Los Angeles (11)
17 Houston (12)
15 Colorado (11)
14 Chivas (11)
13 Dallas (12)
12 Salt Lake (11)
10 San Jose (10)
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MLS News

Bob Hunter at the Columbus Dispatch gives hardcore Crew fans the finger - the big thumbs up! (thanks to Dale for sending this to me)
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MLS Golden Boot

9 Landon Donovan
6 Kenny Cooper
5 Jaime Moreno
5 Chad Barrett
5 Brian Ching
5 Edson Buddle
5 Robbie Rogers
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US Open Cup

First Round Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jun 10
Carolina Railhawks v Brooklyn Knights
Real Maryland Monarchs v NY Pancyprian Freedoms
Richmond Kickers v Fredricksburg Gunners
Western Mass Pioneers v Boston Olympiakos
Minnesota Thunder v St Louis Lions
Michigan Bucks v Cleveland City Stars
AAC Eagles v Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Rochester Rhinos v RWB Adria
Austin Aztex v Atlanta Silverbacks
Miami FC Blues v Bradenton Academics
Charlottle Eagles v Clearwater Galactics
Charleston Battery v ASC New Stars
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Los Angeles Legends
Harrisburg City Islanders v Yakima Reds
Arizona Sahuaros v Seattle Sounders
Portland Timbers v Hollywood United
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USL First Division News

The Burnley Express in England has a story on Burnley FC who are looking for a partner club in the United States. And USL is looking to create some sort of crazy summer tournament with our 1st Division and teams from lower leagues in England and Portugal. Wild stuff. (Thanks to TJ for this one.)
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USL First Division Standings

22 Vancouver (10)
20 Charleston (10)
17 Portland (13)
17 Seattle (11)
14 Minnesota (10)
13 Carolina (8)
12 Atlanta (9)
11 Miami (13)
8 Montreal (10)
7 Rochester (9)
6 Puerto Rico (7)
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Mexico & FMF News

Congrats to Santos Laguna for capturing the Clausura title!
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South American News

Everton (aka Corporacion Deportiva Everton de Vina del Mar) ended Colo Colo's run of 4 consecutive Chilean championships!

River Plate won the Argentine Clausura on Saturday with a 2-1 win over Olimpio.

Penarol came back from a 1-3 hole to win 5-3 and claim the Uruguayan championship!
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Copa Libertadores

Final 1st Leg Match & Score:
-Wed May 28
Boca Juniors 2-2 Fluminense
America 1-1 LDU Quito
Final 2nd Leg Match & Score:
-Wed Jun 4
Fluminense 3-1 Boca Juniors - Flum advance 5-3 on aggregate.
LDU Quito 0-0 America - series ends tied 1-1 but Quito advance on the away goals rule tiebreaker!
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So we get a couple weeks off, then they play the final series for the 2008 crown.
-Wed Jun 25
Liga Deportivo Universitaria de Quito Ecuador v Fluminese Football Club of Rio de Janeiro Brasil
-Wed Jul 2
Fluminese v LDU Quito
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European News

FIFA.com has a Q & A with former Portugal star Rui Costa.
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2008 UEFA European Championship News

Switzerland forward Alexander Frei partially ruptured knee ligaments in the game against the Czechs on Saturday and will be out for the rest of the tournament.
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2008 UEFA European Championship Schedule

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
(all times are central)
-Sat Jun 7
Switzerland 0-1 Czech Republic - CR goal by Vaclav Sverkos.
Portugal 2-0 Turkey - 1:30pm - Port goals by Pepe & Raul Meireles.
-Sun Jun 8
Austria 0-1 Croatia - Croa goal by Luka Modric(PK).
Germany 2-0 Poland - Germ goals both by Lukas Podolski.
-Mon Jun 9
Romania v France - 10:50am - ESPN2
Netherlands v Italy - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Tue Jun 10
Spain v Russia - 10:50am - ESPN2
Greece v Sweden - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Wed Jun 11
Czech Republic v Portugal - 10:50am - ESPN2
Switzerland v Turkey - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Thu Jun 12
Croatia v Germany - 10:50am - ESPN2
Austria v Poland - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Fri Jun 13
Italy v Romania - 10:50am - ESPN2
Netherlands v France - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Sat Jun 14
Sweden v Spain - 10:50am - ESPN2
Greece v Russia - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Sun Jun 15
Switzerland v Portugal - 1:30pm - ESPN2
Turkey v Czech Republic - 1:30pm - ESPN Classic
-Mon Jun 16
Poland v Croatia - 1:30pm - ESPN Classic
Austria v Germany - 1:30pm - ESPN
-Tue Jun 17
Netherlands v Romania - 1:30pm - ESPN Classic
France v Italy - 1:30pm - ESPN
-Wed Jun 18
Greece v Spain - 1:30pm - ESPN
Russia v Sweden - 1:30pm - ESPN2
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Group Standings
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African World Cup Qualifying

The Round 1 group stage is underway in Africa and most teams have played 2 of the six matches. Here are the standings.