All Over The Page News

The US Soccer store is having a clearance sale. Lots of goodies for cheap!

~and~

Our FIS (Friend In Soccer) Greg Seltzer has launched a new blog called No Short Corners, with Sean O'Conor [CORRECTED]. They kicked it off yesterday. Check it out now.


SuperLiga

Official website
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Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 29
Houston 2-0 Pachuca - HD goals by Bobby Bowell & Corey Ashe.
Attendance: 16,679
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
-Wed Jul 30
New England 1-0 Atlante - NER goal by Shalrie Joseph.
Attendance: 8,302 (Pathetic!)
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
Match report by Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald.
Match report by Monique Walker of the Boston Globe.
Match report from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
Match report from the Attleboro (MA) Sun Chronicle.
(In Spanish) Match report from Novedades de Quintana Roo.
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My notes from the New England v Atlante game:
-It was very sad to watch the losing team melt down at the end of the game, for the second night in a row. I was amazed at how little self control Atlante had. They ended up with 5 players Red Carded, and easily could have had more.
-Jay Heaps got a post game Red Card for New England. I didn't see what he did, but it must have occurred during the post game melt down. So New England will be without 2 starting defenders for the Final. (Michael Parkhurst is at the Olympics)
-Shalrie Joseph was incredible last night. He seemed to fill every passing lane, then put a great move or two on a defender and make a great pass that we all have come to expect from him. An excellent performance.
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Frank Dell'apa of Soccernet writes about the stupidity that ended both Semifinal matches.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle says SuperLiga could use some improvements for next season.
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Final
-Tue Aug 5
New England v Houston - 7pm central on TeleFutura
-I am going to predict 13,000 in attendance for the final.
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MLS Scoreboard

League Standings
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Steven Goff of the Washington Post with details on a 2 year ban from US Open Cup play for Cuauhtemoc Blanco. He punched a DC player and got into it with a DC staff member after being Red Carded.
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The Fire website has details on the acquisition of Brian McBride, including quotes from the appropriate parties.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune, Orrin Schwarz of the Daily Herald and Nick Firchau of the Southtown Star all on McBride’s return home.
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COLUMBUS CREW

Chris DeVille of Columbus Alive does a great long Q & A with Crew TV announcer Dwight Burgess.
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FC DALLAS

Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News says the reason midfielder Arturo Alvarez was sold to San Jose was that he just didn't fit the teams new system under coach Schellas Hyndman.
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Aparicio also says two youngsters from River Plate are in Dallas for a tryout.
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DC UNITED

DCU has bought left sided midfielder Ivan Guerrero from San Jose.
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Forward Grandpa Doe had a foot injury that will keep him out for nearly a month.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Let's take a moment to look at how amazing Dwayne De Rosario is when he steps up on the big stage:
-MLS Cup winning goal for San Jose in 2001.
-MLS Cup winning goal assist for San Jose in 2003 [CORRECTED].
-MLS Cup PK goal after extra time for Houston in 2007.
-MLS Cup winning goal for Houston in 2007.
-All Star game winning goal for MLS in 2007.
-All Star game winning goal for MLS in 2008.
-MLS Goal Of The Year in 2004.
-MLS Goal Of The Year in 2005.
-Has 4 MLS Cup wins in 7 years in the league!
-And I would bet that there are many more amazing feats on that list too.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Another player from last summers Gambian U20 World Cup team, the one that produced both Kenny Mansally and Sainey Nyassi or New England. This player is a center back. Hard to believe they are looking for defenders.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Monique Walker of the Boston Globe talks to Rev's rookie Pat Phelan about the wicked concussion he suffered in a collision with a teammate a couple weeks ago.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

I can't remember if I have reported this already, so here ya go - NYRB has officially signed Mexican defender Diego Jimenez from UAdG Tecos.
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REAL SALT LAKE

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune looks at RSL's upcoming schedule, and even though they sit in first place right now, it get's pretty tough ahead.
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TORONTO FC

TFC lost another defender today when they released Frenchman Olivier Tebily. After losing left back Todd Dunivant to ankle surgery they are now really short of help in the back once again. And it's never been their strong suit.
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Morgan Campbell of the Star on the arrival of new forward Chad Barrett.
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GENERAL

Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando was named the leagues Player Of The Month for July.
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Andrew Hush at Soccernet takes a look at MLS scouting practices. They need to do a lot more scouting to get better, especially with the league still to expand by 4 more teams.
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Shaka Hislop for the Guardian tries to catch the English up on the busy past week in MLS.
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MLS Friendlies

-Wed Jul 30
Chicago 2-0 Everton (England) - CF goals by Chris Rolfe & Tomas Frankowski.
Attendance: 9512
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview IL
Match report from the Liverpool Echo.
Post game notes by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card.
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Be forewarned - Barca will be without Lionel Messi who is at the Olympics.
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star on the papers Toronto FC blog with the latest on a potential signing of English forward Paul Dickov.
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An interesting rumor today from Soccer 365 - Australian "league MVP Marlon James is in talks to join San Jose, and the St. Vincent & Grenadines strike ace claims he will be bringing veteran St. V&G midfielder Bernard Huggings with him..."
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MLS Expansion News

The Business Journal reports that the USL First Division team Portland Timbers are officially going to seek an MLS franchise.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports looks at more possible teams in Canada.
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USA Olympic Team

ING Cup Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 30
USA 0-0 Cote d'Ivoire
-Sat Aug 2
USA v Cameroon
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The South China Morning Post had nothing good to say about any of the USA or Ivory Coast young stars after a game they called a "bore." Damn.
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Official team blog.
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USA U20 News

Our boys are once again taking part in the annual Milk Cup in Northern Ireland.
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Matches & Scores:
-Mon Jul 28
USA 1-3 Northern Ireland - USA goal by Johnny Flynn(OG).
-Wed Jul 30
USA 4-0 Wales - USA goals by Brek Shea(2), Peri Marosivic & Danny Cruz.
Match report from US Soccer.
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Belgium, Chile & Israel make up the other group.
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Final Matches & Scores:
-Fri Aug 1
5th Place - Wales v Israel
3rd Place - USA v Belgium
1st Place - Chile v Northern Ireland
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Soccer In America

Our main man SF at the Offside Rules had a cool post the other day - its a video clip from a new seen reality TV show starring Freddy Adu called Football Star. Check it out now.
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Americans In Europe

The Liverpool Daily Post talks to Tim Howard about the offseason and getting back to work with Everton.
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Olympic Soccer News

Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet previews all the teams, group by group.
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Gregory Sica of Sports Illustrated says Argentina are in great shape to retain their gold medals.
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Goal.com has their Starting XI reasons why the Olympic matches will be good.
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England News

The Guardian with an article that says Newcastle would be better off cutting their ties to Joey Barton.
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Another great article from the Guardian's newly released The Guardian Book Of Football:
-Through European nights and days of horror, Dalglish dazzled by Kevin McCarra
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European News

GERMANY

Der Spiegel on the Zen of Bayern Munchen boss Juergen Klinsmann.
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ITALY

Fiorentina has signed goalkeeper Sebastien Frey to a contract extension.
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Football Italia talks to Catania coach Walter Zenga about the upcoming season.
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AC Milan has won the preseason TIM Trophy. It's yearly invite tournament where Italian sides play mini-games. This season it was Milan, Inter & Juve.
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UEFA Champions League

Second Qualifying Round 2nd leg matches will be played on Aug 5 & 6.
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UEFA Cup

First Qualifying Round 2nd leg matches are being played on Thu Jul 31. Here are those Matches & Scores.

Gloves Help With Steering News

SuperLiga

Official website
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Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 29
Houston 2-0 Pachuca - HD goals by Bobby Bowell & Corey Ashe.
Attendance: 16,679
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
Match report by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Post game notes by Glenn Davis of the Chronicle on his blog The Soccer Hour.
Post game notes by Fallas in the Chron.
Post game notes & Houston player ratings by Fallas on his blog Soccer y Futbol.
(In Spanish) Match report from El Sol de Hidalgo in Pachuca.
(In Spanish) Match report from Sintesis in Pachuca.
-Wed Jul 30
New England v Atlante - 7pm central on TeleFutura
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
Match preview by Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald.
Match preview from the Attleboro (MA) Sun Chronicle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Parkhurst will not be with New England tonight as he is in Hong Kong with the USA preparing for the Olympics.
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My notes from Houston v Pachuca:
-Pachuca clearly missed their maestro Chaco Gimenez. He was out due to Yellow Card accumulation in the group stage. I hate that 2 Yellows in a three game series can get you suspended. That is a joke.
-Pachuca was also robbed of a goal. They came out flying to start the second half and Gabriel Caballero scored on a tap in but was called Offside. He sure looked even with last defender to me. These are the type of calls where officials get into trouble. When it is that close they should put the flags and whistles into their pocket.
-Houston was without starting centerback Eddie Robinson due to food poisoning, and defender Patrick Ianni & midfielder Stuart Holden who are with the USA Olympic team.
-Again the field at Houston's Robertson Stadium was embarrassing. In the previous SuperLiga games played there it was worn down to dirt and sand with a few patches of green. So they tore it all out and put in new grass about 10 days ago. But it looked like they never watered it after laying it down. It was dry, sandy and patched together in a very ugly way. Not to mention all the bumps. Was it better than before? Maybe. But honestly, it was bad, and the people who run the stadium and the tournament should be called out on it. This is the semifinal of a tournament we are told is important. It sure didn't look like it, again. To make it worse, tonight’s semifinal won't even be played on grass, but instead it'll be that awful fake stuff. Yes I am turning into a turf-nazi.
-Nate Jaqua & Kei Kamara made their return and debut with Houston, respectively. Both added to the depth and took pressure off the other players.
-The two outside midfielders, Brian Mullan & Corey Ashe hooking up for the second goal was classic Houston play.
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The Final is on Tue Aug 5. The location will be New England if they win, and Houston if Atlante win.
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Orrin Schwarz of the Daily Herald wonders if the deal to bring in Brian McBride is too rich for the teams future.
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The South Jersey Courier Post with an article on their hometown boy, midfielder Stephen King.
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New left midfielder Marco Pappa has acquired his work permit and will be eligible to play in the friendly against Everton tonight.
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FC DALLAS

FCD management has done everything in their power to persuade Kenny Cooper to stay. A hefty pay raise was thought to be #1 on that list.
-Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News reports that Cooper is not leaving Dallas any time soon.
-Wales Online reports that Cooper is not signing with Cardiff City and will stay in Dallas, with a new contract worth $400,000 a year. That would make him a designated player wouldn't it?
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DC UNITED

Steven Goff of the Washington Post ponders DCU falling flat on their face at home lately. They are in the midst of their worst home streak ever.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Bob Luder of the Star with an article on the teams youth players.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Monique Walker of the Boston Globe says the Revs are rested and ready for tonight.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives gives us an update after visiting Red Bulls practice today.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger on the Red Bull blues.
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REAL SALT LAKE

Steve Pastorino, the former General Manager at RSL, writing for the US Soccer Players Assoc, got a tour of the brand new stadium in Sandy and gives us his glowing impressions.
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James Edward of the Deseret News says RSL are still searching for one more player.
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TORONTO FC

Last week on Jimmy Conrad's radio show defender Todd Dunivant told Conrad that he had just complete ankle surgery and would not be back again this year.
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GENERAL

Andrew Dixon at the US Soccer Players Assoc thinks MLS commish Donald M Garber heaped a little too much praise on Toronto during his All Star game speech. Yes their fans have snapped up ticket and Reds gear at an impressive rate, but what have they done on the field to earn any praise?
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MLS Friendlies

-Wed Jul 30
Chicago v Everton (England)
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The Liverpool Echo on Everton's preseason preparations here in America.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on Everton's training in Chicago.
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MLS Expansion News

The Seattle Post Intelligencer on what the Sounders are doing right, with huge excitement about the team 8 months before they even kick off in MLS.
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The National Post on one of Vancouver's financial backers not named Steve Nash.
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Former MLS Player News

Former New England defender Tony Lochead is getting a look from Middlesbrough in England. He will have had to have improved considerably to have any chance at succeeding in the Premiership. I would be shocked if this happened.
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USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 29
Miami 1-2 Vancouver
-Fri Aug 1
Atlanta v Charleston
Puerto Rico v Seattle
Carolina v Vancouver
-Sat Aug
Minnesota v Portland
-Sun Aug 3
Charleston v Vancouver
Puerto Rico v Carolina
Rochester v Atlanta
-Tue Aug 5
Atlanta v Vancouver
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USL First Division Standings

Standings (games played):
31 Charleston (18) (GD +8)
31 Vancouver (17) (GD +3)
30 Puerto Rico (17)
28 Rochester (19)
26 Seattle (20)
23 Miami (21) (GD -3)
23 Portland (20) (GD -4)
21 Atlanta (16) (GD -5)
21 Carolina (19) (GD -8)
20 Minnesota (19)
19 Montreal (18)
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USA Olympic Team

The South China Morning Post with an article on Freddy Adu and Jozy Altidore.
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Patrick Ianni writes a "journal" for his hometown paper, the Lodi News Sentinel in California.
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ING Cup Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 30
USA 0-0 Cote d'Ivoire
Match report from US Soccer.
-Sat Aug 2
USA v Cameroon
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USA Lineup and Subs against Ivory Coast:
18-Brad Guzan; 2-Marvell Wynne, 15-Michael Parkhurst, 6-Maurice Edu, 3-Michael Orozco; 16-Sacha Kljestan (10-Benny Feilhaber, 46), 4-Michael Bradley (13-Patrick Ianni, 89), 11-Freddy Adu (5-Dax McCarty, 46), 7-Stuart Holden (8-Danny Szetela, 46); 17-Brian McBride (capt.) (14-Robbie Rogers, 46), 12-Jozy Altidore (9-Charlie Davies, 46)
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From what I have been able to read today it looks like the USA gave a very weak offensive performance. Their only shot on goal was a blooped header from Jozy Altidore that gave the keeper no troubles at all. While Brad Guzan twice had to make huge saves to keep the score at zeros. A dedicated reader from the Philippines, Bart, saw the game on TV there and said of the USA: "The English announcers on Star Sports (who were otherwise generally supportive of the Yanks) called them disappointing."
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I have a question - Why would the game be shown in the Philippines and yet you can't see it here?
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Official team blog.
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US Soccer with video of the team training in Hong Kong.
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US Soccer has quotes from coaches and players. These are a couple of days old now.
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USA U20 News

Our boys are taking part in the annual Milk Cup in Northern Ireland.
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Matches & Scores:
-Mon Jul 28
USA 1-3 Northern Ireland - USA goal by Johnny Flynn(OG).
Match report from the Milk Cup website.
-Wed Jul 30
USA v Wales
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Belgium, Chile & Israel make up the other group.
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The final will be played on Fri Aug 1.
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Americans In Europe

London's Daily Mail talks to Brad Friedel who says one reason he signed with Aston Villa is that team owner Randy Lerner also owns his beloved hometown Cleveland Browns.
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Goalkeeper Patrick Lane has signed a deal to play for Cercle of Brugge in Belgium. He had been training at Brad Friedel's Premier Soccer Academy.
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Olympic Soccer News

Here is a candidate for World Wide Goal Of The Year - South Korean goalkeeper shoots from his own box and scores at the other end of the field against Ivory Coast in an Olympic warm-up match! Via You Tube. (Thanks to Bart for this gem)
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England News

Joey Barton may have gotten out of jail, and he may still have a contract with his club Newcastle, but his shoe sponsor Nike has dropped him as an endorser. My only question is this - What took them so long?
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The Guardian runs an article from 42 years ago today - England wins the World Cup.
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And another chapter from the Guardian Book Of Football - Brilliant, brave and as big as the Beatles, George is the Best
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European News

FRANCE

Paris St Germain won the French Cup title last season, but won't get to defend it this upcoming season. Why? Because of continued bad behavior by their fans. Notoriously racist & hate filled, the fans hung banners in their stadium during the Cup finals insulting the region where their opponent Lens hail from.
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ITALY

ESPN Magazine puts all of Ronaldinho's failings down to hookers.
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Milan has included Paolo Maldini on their roster as they head to Russia for the Moscow Tournament. They will play games against Chelsea, Lokomotiv Moscow & Sevilla. So much for retiring.
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UEFA Champions League

Second Qualifying Round - 1st leg
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 29
Brann (Bergen, Norway) 1-0 Ventspils (Latvia)
Inter Baku (Azerbaijan) 1-1 Partizan (Belgrade, Serbia)
Drogheda (Ireland) 1-2 Dynamo Kyiv (Kiev, Ukraine)
-Wed Aug 30
Rangers (Glasgow Scotland) 0-0 Kaunas (Lithuania)
Tampere United (Finland) 1-3 Artmedia (Bratislava, Slovakia)
Sheriff (Tiraspol, Moldova) 0-1 Sparta Praha (Czech Republic)
AaB (Aalborg, Denmark) 5-0 Modrica Maxima (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
Beitar Jerusalem (Israel) 2-1 Wisla Krakow (Poland)
Fenerbahce (Istanbul, Turkey) 2-0 MTK Hungaria (Budapest, Hungary)
IFK Goteborg (Sweden) 1-1 Basel (Switzerland)
Anderlecht (Montignies-sur-Sambre, Belgium) 1-2 BATE (Borisov, Belarus)
Anorthosis Famagusta (Larnaca, Cyprus) 3-0 Rapid Wien (Vienna, Austria)
Panathinaikos (Athens, Greece) 3-0 Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia)
Domzale (Slovenia) 0-3 Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
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2nd leg matches on Aug 5 & 6.
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World News

Ravi Ubha of the Seattle Post Intelligencer with his weekly news roundup - The Beautiful Game.
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Jack Warner/Sepp Blatter/FIFA Idiocy & Scandal News

Andrew Jennings at the Telegraph with the latest from the court proceedings surrounding the collapse of media company ISL and the losses of 100's of millions of dollars in 2001. The court in Switzerland had found FIFA to be guilty of "misleading" detectives in the investigation. FIFA has said they will appeal.

Take Me Off News

I am very excited to see Houston & Pachuca battle it out once again. This time in the SuperLiga semifinals! Every time these two teams meet it's a masterpiece of a game! Oh Yeah!

~and~

The frustratingly talented Arturo Alvarez has been sold by FC Dallas to San Jose. The Earthquakes also gave up a future draft pick in the deal. Let's hope that Alvarez can consistently show his skills for the new team.


SuperLiga

Pachuca will be without their offensive engine tonight - Christian "Chaco" Gimenez is suspended due to Yellow Card accumulation.
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Official website
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Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 29
Houston v Pachuca - 9pm central on TeleFutura
Attendance:
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
Match preview by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Pre-game notes by Fallas on his blog Soccer y Futbol.
Pre-game analysis by Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle.
Match preview by Pat Walsh at Goal.com.
-Wed Jul 30
New England v Atlante - 7pm central on TeleFutura
Attendance:
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 18
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 23
DC 0-2 Houston - HD goals by Brian Mullan & Brian Ching.
Attendance: 14,660
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
-Sun Jul 27
San Jose 1-1 New York - -SJE goal by Darren Huckerby. NYRB goal by Eric Denton(OG).
Attendance: 9,046
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara CA
Dallas 4-0 Los Angeles - FCD goals by Kenny Cooper(2), Dominic Oduro & Abe Thompson.
Attendance: 21,020
Venue: Pizza Hut Park, Frisco TX
Kansas City 0-0 Chicago
Attendance: 10,385
Venue: Community America Ballpark, Kansas City KS
Colorado 0-2 Columbus - CC goals by Steven Lenhart & Jason Garey.
Attendance: 10,647
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City CO
-Mon Jul 28
Salt Lake 2-1 Toronto - RSL goals by Jamison Olave & Robbie Findley. TFC goal by Amado Guevara.
Attendance: 12,319
Venue: Rice Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City UT
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret News.
Match report by Jimmy McNulty of the Toronto Sun.
Match report by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Player ratings for RSL on the Deseret News RSL blog.
Post game notes by Edward.
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Ejections:
Gonzalo Martinez - DC United - 2 Yellow Cards
Steven Lenhart - Columbus Crew - Red Card
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League Standings
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

One name above all others to fear: Cuauhtemodo
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FC DALLAS

Great piece of info from a commenter yesterday: "Cooper got the players to sign the game ball, then gave it to Schellas to commemorate his 1st win as FC Dallas' head coach. Class act."
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Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News with info on outgoing Arturo Alvarez and incoming Bruno Guarda.
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DC UNITED

Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner looks at the ever-changing line ups, but same old losing results for DCU lately.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on the teams newest signing, forward Kei Kamara. And several other notes.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Kyle McCarthy writing for Sports Illustrated says Pat Noonan did not sign with Columbus, but could be headed back to the Revs.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

The team has lost completely useless forward Oscar Echeverry to a season ending knee injury.
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REAL SALT LAKE

The Deseret Morning News with a story on big strapping defender Jamison Olave.
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Robbie Russell was just officially signed by RSL on Friday and made his debut late in the game last night subbing on for an injured Ian Joy. He looked good too. Big, strong and fast.
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TORONTO FC

The Toronto Sun says Chad Barrett is fine, but how about a real star player for TFC.
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Midfielder Carl Robinson writes for his native County Times in Wales about the teams loss in the Canadian Championship.
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GENERAL

Dallas forward Kenny Cooper was named Player Of The Week.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider gives us his weekly review - The Good, The Bad & The Coyote Ugly.
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Ken Roberts at Sports Club Stats sent over this analysis chart that let's you see which way all 14 MLS teams are trending, and their chances of making the playoffs.
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USL First Division News

First & Second Division Teams Of The Week.
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Ken Roberts at Sports Club Stats sent over this analysis chart that let's you see which way all 11 USL First Division teams are trending, and their chances of making the playoffs.
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Minnesota Thunder

Defender Stephen DeRoux and midfielder Ricardo Sanchez made the leagues Team Of The Week.
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USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 29
Miami v Vancouver
-Fri Aug 1
Atlanta v Charleston
Puerto Rico v Seattle
Carolina v Vancouver
-Sat Aug
Minnesota v Portland
-Sun Aug 3
Charleston v Vancouver
Puerto Rico v Carolina
Rochester v Atlanta
-Tue Aug 5
Atlanta v Vancouver
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USL First Division Standings

Standings (games played):
31 Charleston (18)
30 Puerto Rico (17)
28 Rochester (19) (GD +5)
28 Vancouver (16) (GD +2)
26 Seattle (20)
23 Miami (20) (GD -1)
23 Portland (20) (GD -4)
21 Atlanta (16) (GD -5)
21 Carolina (19) (GD -8)
20 Minnesota (19)
19 Montreal (18)
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USA Olympic Team

ESPN Magazine has an article on Freddy Adu and Olympic preparations.
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ING Cup Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 30
USA v Cote d'Ivoire
-Sat Aug 2
USA v Cameroon
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Official team blog.
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USA U20 News

Our boys are taking part in the annual Milk Cup in Northern Ireland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Jul 28
USA 1-3 Northern Ireland - USA goal by Johnny Flynn(OG).
Match report from the Milk Cup website.
-Wed Jul 30
USA v Wales
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Belgium, Chile & Israel make up the other group.
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The final will be played on Fri Aug 1.
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Soccer In America

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze brings up a great point when writing about how most of us gringos know next to nothing about the Mexican Primera league.
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The Wall Street Journal with an article on European teams spending more and more money to scout and help produce young American players. (thanks to Mark for this one)
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Jeff Rusnack of the South Florida Sun Sentinel with a review of the book Soccer In A Football World by David Wangerin. Out for over a year in Europe, the book has finally been released in the country it was written about.
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Americans In Europe

Shaka Hislop at Soccernet does a video interview with Kasey Keller.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet with the story of young Neven Subotic. Now defending for Borussia Dortmund, but still not committed to Team USA for the his international career. Why not?
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Paul Kennedy of Soccer America calls Freddy Adu the new French ambassador. Via Sports Illustrated.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

FIFA.com with a look at the Cuban national team as they gear up for the first group stage of World Cup qualifying next month.
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South American News

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated calls the Chocolate Box in Buenos Aires, home to Boca Juniors, the greatest sporting venue on earth.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at 2 talented young Englishmen from Liverpool who have had slightly different success as professionals: Steven Gerrard and Joey Barton.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two more articles from the Guardian Book Of Football.
-Why a weary England will never win by David Lacey
-Cool, calm and courageous, Moore is No1 by Sir Geoff Hurst
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

ITALY

Hilarious picture - Luis Figo teaches new signing Sulley Muntari some of the secret Inter dance moves.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

OTHERS

Bloomberg has the story of a local burger chain in Sweden going toe to toe with UEFA over corporate sponsorship exclusivity. (thanks to Joe for this)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League

Second Qualifying Round - 1st leg
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 29
Brann (Bergen, Norway) 1-0 Ventspils (Latvia)
Inter Baku (Azerbaijan) 1-1 Partizan (Belgrade, Serbia)
Drogheda (Ireland) 1-2 Dynamo Kyiv (Kiev, Ukraine)
-Wed Aug 30
Rangers (Glasgow Scotland) v Kaunas (Lithuania)
Tampere United (Finland) v Artmedia (Bratislava, Slovakia)
Sheriff (Tiraspol, Moldova) v Sparta Praha (Czech Republic)
AaB (Aalborg, Denmark) v Modrica Maxima (Bosnia-Herzegovina)
Beitar Jerusalem (Israel) v Wisla Krakow (Poland)
Fenerbahce (Istanbul, Turkey) v MTK Hungaria (Budapest, Hungary)
IFK Goteborg (Sweden) v Basel (Switzerland)
Anderlecht (Montignies-sur-Sambre, Belgium) v BATE (Borisov, Belarus)
Anorthosis Famagusta (Larnaca, Cyprus) v Rapid Wien (Vienna, Austria)
Panathinaikos (Athens, Greece) v Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia)
Domzale (Slovenia) v Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2nd leg matches on Aug 5 & 6.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup

First Qualifying Round 2nd leg matches are being played on Thu Jul 31.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

Jack Bell of the New York Times with his world news recap - Extra Time. Focusing on the nature of player contracts.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

African News

The Ethiopian federation has been suspended from international play by FIFA due to non-compliance with regulations set out by FIFA for managing federations.

Please Leave The Lights On News

Brian McBride is all set to join Chicago when he returns from the Olympics. Chicago paid cash, a draft pick and forward Chad Barrett to Toronto for the rights to McBride. Did they pay too much? I don't think so.

~and~

If you watched the Dallas v LA game last night you may have noticed FCD forward Kenny Cooper grabbing the game ball after full time had been called. I think this is as good a sign as any that his MLS days are over for now and he is off to Europe this week. But where? Rosenborg? Cardiff?

~and~

On MLSnet there is a match report of the FCD v LAG game where the LA goalkeeper is referred to as "Kevin Cronin". It's good to see the lead singer of REO Speedwagon getting a chance at a second career.

~and~

Houston Chronicle soccer reporter Bernardo Fallas officially became a USA citizen last Friday. Huge congrats to the native of Costa Rica. The Dynamo honor him with a little Q & A of their own.


SuperLiga

Dynamo team president Oliver Luck sends an open letter to Houstonians asking them to "Bring The Orange" on Tuesday night! I would love to be there!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Official match reports and video highlights etc.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 29
Houston v Pachuca
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
-Wed Jul 30
New England v Atlante
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All games can be seen live on TeleFutura.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Scoreboard

Week 18
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 23
DC 0-2 Houston - HD goals by Brian Mullan & Brian Ching.
Attendance: (before rain story) 14,660, (after rain storm) 174
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
-Sun Jul 27
San Jose 1-1 New York - -SJE goal by Darren Huckerby. NYRB goal by Eric Denton(OG).
Attendance: 9,046
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara CA
Match report from the San Jose Mercury News.
Match report San Mateo Daily Journal.
Match report by Jay Hipps at Center Line Soccer.
Match report from Big Apple Soccer.
Dallas 4-0 Los Angeles - FCD goals by Kenny Cooper(2), Dominic Oduro & Abe Thompson.
Attendance: 21,020
Venue: Pizza Hut Park, Frisco TX
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match report by Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News.
Post match notes by Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer.
Kansas City 0-0 Chicago
Attendance: 10,385
Venue: Community America Ballpark, Kansas City KS
Match report by Bob Luder of the Kansas City Star.
Post game notes by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card.
Colorado 0-2 Columbus - CC goals by Steven Lenhart & Jason Garey.
Attendance: 10,647
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City CO
Match report by Brian Forbes of the Denver Post.
Match report by Pat Rooney of the Rocky Mountain News.
Post game notes by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Post game notes by George Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News on his blog FC Rocky.
-Mon Jul 28
Salt Lake v Toronto -
Venue: Rice Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City UT
Match preview by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match preview by James Edward of the Deseret News.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ejections:
Gonzalo Martinez - DC United - 2 Yellow Cards
Steven Lenhart - Columbus Crew - Red Card
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Nick Firchau of the Southtown Star with an article in what the Fire are getting in Brian McBride.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The team will be without both Cuauhtemoc Blanco & Diego Gutierrez for their match next Saturday at home against Chivas USA due to Yellow Card accumulation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CD CHIVAS USA

Head coach Preki will miss the teams next two matches after being suspended by the league for berating officials. He will miss Aug 2 at Chicago and Aug 9 at Kansas City.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLORADO RAPIDS

The team sent newly acquired midfielder Bruno Guarda to Dallas for money and some future draft picks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

The Crew had not won in Denver since 1999.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Arace of the Dispatch feels the Crew really need to add to their roster before the transfer window closes on August 15, if they want to really chase the title.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Dallas hit the crossbar 3 times against LA, meaning that their win could have been even more pulverizing then it already was.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The team acquired midfielder Bruno Guarda from Colorado for money and some future draft picks. This is no surprise as Guarda just left SMU where he had been coached by new Dallas headman Schellas Hyndman.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

The team has bought forward Kei Kamara from San Jose.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Not a very good debut match for new defender Eduardo Dominguez. He and centerback partner Greg "somehow-slower-than-Xavier" Vanney got burned for 4 goals. The first one actually deflected off Dominguez to beat Cronin. On goal #2, Cooper stripped the ball from Dominguez passed ahead to Oduro, then took the return pass to shoot and score again. Oduro then got his chance and blew past Dominguez with pure speed for a breakaway goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports hands out a midseason report card for David Beckman.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer has an article on midfielder Dave van den Bergh, who is having a very good season so far, and is by far the most consistent player on their team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stefan Bondy at the Herald News with an article on the teams new signing Jorge Rojas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

Goal.com with an article on Argentine midfielder Javier Morales.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Auto-golazo - Eric Denton had a nightmare own goal on Sunday against New York. A cross came in from the right and he went to head the ball back to keeper Joe Cannon, but placed the ball perfectly over Cannon, just under the crossbar, and into the net. It was nicely done, but 100% wrong. Pay attention kids, never put your back pass directly on goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

There is a slight chance we could see Chad Barrett suit up for TFC tonight in Salt Lake.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morgan Campbell of the Star reports that forward Jeff Cunningham has seen his team locker moved from the first team to reserve team room. Whoa. You can expect to see him on the train out of town very soon.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Steve Davis at Soccernet with 5 things to note from Week 18.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com with a team-by-team midseason review/preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives wraps up the All Star game for us.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Daily Texan newspaper in Austin looks at the growth & potential of MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer with an audio podcast of their MLS Referee Review for Week 17. I think some of you really like this feature.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Golden Boot

12 Landon Donovan
11 Edson Buddle
11 Kenny Cooper
10 Luciano Emilio
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Wales Online says Cardiff City have joined the chase for Dallas forward Kenny Cooper. And that site says some very nice things about Frankencooper. Rosenborg in Norway as the main suitors. (thanks to Bart for this)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Our friend GS tells us that Clint Mathis could be Norway bound, as he has a try out with 2nd Division team Start. Clarence Goodson currently plays there.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And defender Hunter Freeman of NYRB could be headed to the same team as Mathis.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Juan Toja has Rapid Bucharest interested in signing him too now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Paul Dickov-to-Toronto rumors have heated up again.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Expansion News

NBA star player Steve Nash has officially revealed that he is part of Vancouver's charge to obtain a new MLS team for the 2011 season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Toronto Globe & Mail with more on the Vancouver plans. Very interesting.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fox Soccer Report Analyst Bobby McMahon gives his opinion on the leagues expansion ideas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

College News

The University of Evansville (Indiana) gives us updates on their professional soccer playing alumni, including: Diego Gutierrez, Troy Perkins & David Weir.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Minnesota Thunder

On Thursday the Thunder found a new way to win, coming back from a 0-1 deficit to beat defending Champs Seattle 2-1. But then on Sunday they found a new way to lose, giving away a 2-0 first half lead to lose 2-3 to Puerto Rico. Dammit all anyway, I'm sick of it. Four years of this crap. But at least they moved out of last place.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 23
Vancouver 1-1 Charleston
-Thu Jul 24
Minnesota 2-1 Seattle
Portland 0-0 Carolina
-Fri Jul 25
Rochester 1-1 Montreal
-Sat Jul 26
Vancouver 1-0 Carolina
Seattle 1-0 Charleston
-Sun Jul 27
Montreal 0-2 Rochester
Miami 3-0 Atlanta
Minnesota 2-3 Puerto Rico
-Tue Jul 29
Miami v Vancouver
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Standings

Standings (games played):
31 Charleston (18)
30 Puerto Rico (17)
28 Rochester (19) (GD +5)
28 Vancouver (16) (GD +2)
26 Seattle (20)
23 Miami (20) (GD -1)
23 Portland (20) (GD -4)
21 Atlanta (16) (GD -5)
21 Carolina (19) (GD -8)
20 Minnesota (19)
19 Montreal (18)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA Olympic Team

FIFA.com has a Q & A with Jozy Altidore, on the Olympics and Villarreal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Salt Lake midfielder/defender Nathan Sturgis has been dropped from the team due to a reoccurrence of a hamstring injury that has kept him off the field for most of 2008. He will be replaced by midfielder Dax McCarty of Dallas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer with a little news on the team from Hong Kong where they are preparing this week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 News

Our boys again take part in the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Jul 28
USA v Northern Ireland
-Wed Jul 30
USA v Wales
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Belgium, Chile & Israel make up the other group.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The final will be played on Fri Aug 1.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

FC Barcelona land in America on Thursday to begin several days of training and a couple of friendlies. Here is some info from the teams website.
-Included in this trip is a training session on Mon Aug 4 in Manhattan's Central Park. What a scene that should be.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Ever wondered what Borussia Dortmund defender Neven Subotic looks like? I have. Here he is sliding through a puddle at training.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Danish SAS Ligaen :
-Dan Califf - Midjtyland - drew 1-1 at Sonderjysk
-Tally Hall - Esbjerg - lost 0-1 at home against Vejle
-Will John - Randers - drew 1-1 at home against Copenhagen
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - drew 1-1 at home against Copenhagen
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - won 3-1 at home over Horsens
Norwegian Tippeligaen:
-Adin Brown - Aalesunds - did not dress as they lost at home 1-2 to Viking.
-Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - no game this weekend.
-Pat Noonan - Aalesunds - played the final 20 minutes but they lost at home 1-2 to Viking.
-Troy Perkins - Valerenga - drew 0-0 at home against Tromso
-Brian Waltrip - Molde - lost 4-0 at Stromsgodset
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - did not suit up as they beat Brann 1-0 at home.
Norwegian Adeccoligaen:
-Matthew Allen - Bryne - lost 1-0 at Sandefjord
-Clarence Goodson - Start - no game this weekend
-Joe Lapira - Nybergsund - drew 2-2 at home against Lov Ham Bergen
-Jay Needham - Alta - won 1-0 at home against Sparta Sarpsborg
-Chris Rodd - Bryne - lost 1-0 at Sandefjord
-Kyle Veris - Hodd - lost 5-1 at Honefoss
-Cam Weaver - Haugesund - won 2-4 at Moss
Swedish Allsvenskan:
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - did not play as they lost 1-0 at AIK.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - was not on the bench as they drew 1-1 at Orebro.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - played all 90 but lost 1-0 at AIK.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans in Mexico

Luis Bueno at the Sideline Views gives us a recap of weekend matches featuring the Americans.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Canada & CSA News

Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail blog On Soccer raves about the last 7 days in terms of Canadian soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

The big game of the Primera Apertura opening weekend saw America beat defending champs Santos 3-2. Salvador Cabanas continued with his amazing goal scoring skills to bag 2 more in the win.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times has a Q & A with Mexico & Barcelona defender Rafa Marquez.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Fulham has signed English forward Andy Johnson from Everton.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Liverpool has signed Irish striker Robbie Keane from Tottenham.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Newcastle have nearly finished a deal to sign Argentine defender Fabricio Coloccini from Deportivo La Coruna. He was pretty good at one time, but I am not so sure anymore. Maybe though.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Joey Barton was released from prison today after serving 2 1/2 of his 4 month sentence.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Observer with a short personal profile of new Blackburn manager Paul Ince.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

ITALY

Inter has signed Ghanaian midfielder Sulley Muntari from Portsmouth.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

The English newspaper The Guardian has just release a "collection of the newspaper's coverage of the game at every level." The Guardian book of Football can be purchased here. It is a bit pricey for us Americans at $40 plus shipping.
-Here are some samples from the book.
-And here is an article from the book written by Richard Williams on the managerial skills of Brian Clough.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Middle Eastern News

Last month Qatar knocked Iraq out of World Cup qualifying. But soon after Iraq accused Qatar of using ineligible players. Now it's getting more serious. The New York Times with the story.

Touching Plastic Together News

OK, so ..... a very short entry today and sadly none tomorrow, as I have to go out of town on short notice for some family business. Just read the other Designated Players sites for all the updates. See ya next week.


FC Dallas has sold midfielder Juan Toja to Steaua Bucharest in Romania (of course) [CORRECTED]. But word came to me later that this deal did not happen, and there is confusion over it happening at all now. Stay tuned. Thanks to everyone who sent me info on this.


MLS Scoreboard

Week 18
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 22
DC 0-2 Houston - HD goals by Brian Mullan & Brian Ching.
Attendance: 14,660 (before rain), 174 (after rain)
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Match report by Dave Lifton for the Houston Chronicle.
Post game notes & DCU player ratings by Goff on his blog Soccer Insider.
-Sun Jul 27
San Jose v New York - 2pm central on TeleFutura
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara CA
Dallas v Los Angeles - 6pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Pizza Hut Park, Frisco TX
Kansas City v Chicago - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Community America Ballpark, Kansas City KS
Colorado v Columbus - 8:30pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City CO
-Mon Jul 28
Salt Lake v Toronto - 8pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Rice Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City UT
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS 2008 All Star Game News

-Thu Jul 24
MLS All Stars v West Ham United - live at 6pm central on ESPN & TeleFutura
Venue: BMO Field, Toronto Canada
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner on his blog The Pitch gives us some notes from a state of MLS type speech that league Commissioner Donald K Garber gave to reporters yesterday in Toronto.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here is video of the Commissioners full speech from MLSnet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at MLSnet gives us a look at the possible key player match ups in tonight's game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Defender Eddie Robinson left last nights game with yet another injury, this time a left hamstring strain. No word on how severe.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

Signed American midfielder Robbie Russell from Viborg in Denmark. Russell have spent the past 7 seasons in Europe.
-Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune with details on the signing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Seattle has sold 16,000 season tickets for next season. Philadelphia already has 5000 for 2010. Amazing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 23
Real Salt Lake 1-2 Saprissa (Costa Rica) - RSL goal by Chris Wingert. Sap goals by Ronald Gomez & Armando Alonso.
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret News.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rookie Of The Year

Here is our list of the top candidates:
1 Kheli Dube - New England Revolution
2 Sean Franklin - Los Angeles Galaxy
3 Anthony Beltran - Real Salt Lake
4 Julius James - Toronto FC
5 Geoff Cameron - Houston Dynamo
6 Roger Espinoza - Kansas City Wizards
7 Bobby Burling - Chivas USA
8 Luke Sassano - New York Red Bulls
9 Justin Braun - Chivas USA
10 Ely Allen - Los Angeles Galaxy

others:
-Erik Avila - FC Dallas
-Danleigh Borman - New York Red Bulls
-Stephen King - Chicago Fire
-Jon Leathers - Kansas City Wizards
-Brandon MacDonald - Los Angeles Galaxy
-Chance Myers - Kansas City Wizards
-Pat Phelan - New England Revolution
-Shea Salinas - San Jose Earthquakes
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Minnesota Thunder

The Minneapolis Star Tribune has a cool story on my crew of fellow Thunder supporters - the Dark Clouds. Thanks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brian Quarstad at Blue Sky Soccer has audio of an interview with Thunder President Manuel Lagos on the release of coach Amos Magee and the immediate future of the team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 23
Vancouver 1-1 Charleston
-Thu Jul 24
Minnesota v Seattle
Portland v Carolina
-Fri Jul 25
Rochester v Montreal
-Sat Jul 26
Vancouver v Carolina
Seattle v Charleston
-Sun Jul 27
Montreal v Rochester
Miami v Atlanta
Minnesota v Puerto Rico
-Tue Jul 29
Miami v Vancouver
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Standings

Standings (games played):
31 Charleston (17)
27 Puerto Rico (16)
25 Vancouver (15)
24 Rochester (17)
23 Seattle (18)
22 Portland (19)
21 Atlanta (15)
20 Miami (19) (GD -4)
20 Carolina (17) (GD -7)
18 Montreal (16)
17 Minnesota (17)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA Olympic Team

Official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 News

Milk Cup tournament in Northern Ireland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Jul 28
USA v Northern Ireland
-Wed Jul 30
USA v Wales
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Belgium, Chile & Israel make up the other group.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The final will be played on Fri Aug 1.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

With the Mexican Primera division almost ready to launch their Apertura season, Luis Bueno on his blog the Sideline Views previews our boys playing south of the border.
Player Previews:
NEW - Michael Orozco - San Luis
NEW - Jesus Padilla - Guadalajara on loan to Tapatio
-Marco Antonio Vidal - Indios de Ciudad Juarez
-Edgar Castillo - Santos Laguna
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner on his blog The Pitch has a review of a book by LA Times reporter Chuck Culpepper on his past year as a fan of Portsmouth.

The Grates Are Vanishing News

Toronto FC coach John Carver wonders what his striker Jeff Cunningham is doing out there on the field: "You want my honest opinion on that? I'm thinking how has he scored 99 goals?"

~and~

Giorgio Chinaglia, one of the biggest soccer villains in America, is wanted by Italian Police for helping a mafia group try to buy Lazio! See European News - Italy section for details!

~and~

From the Canadian business newspaper the Financial Post: "TFC ... made a modest profit in its inaugural season."

~and~

Brad Friedel will join fellow American goalkeeper at Aston Villa. Now that is a pair. But it is unfortunate for Guzan because Friedel never missed games.


MLS Scoreboard

Week 18
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 23 - rescheduled for the 2nd time
DC v Houston - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
Match preview by Mike Martin at United Mania.
Match preview by Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner.
Match preview by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match preview by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
-Thu Jul 24
MLS All Stars v West Ham United - 6pm central on ESPN & TeleFutura
Venue: BMO Field Toronto ON
-Sun Jul 27
San Jose v New York - 2pm central on TeleFutura
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara CA
Dallas v Los Angeles - 6pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Pizza Hut Park, Frisco TX
Kansas City v Chicago - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Community America Ballpark, Kansas City KS
Colorado v Columbus - 8:30pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Dick's Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City CO
-Mon Jul 28
Salt Lake v Toronto - 8pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Rice Eccles Stadium, Salt Lake City UT
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS 2008 All Star Game News

Match & Score:
-Thu Jul 24
MLS All Stars v West Ham United - live at 6pm central on ESPN & TeleFutura
Venue: BMO Field, Toronto Canada
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives gives us all the lowdown from MLS All Star team practice. Two posts full of good stuff here, One - and - Two, including a rumor of a bid for Edson Buddle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa at Soccernet says MLS coach Steve Nicol picked his subs based on what he has to do to win this game. Fair enough.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Toronto Star with an article on the MLS line up for the game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Toronto Globe & Mail gets the word from the MLS players.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The West Ham website talks to player Lucas Neill about the game. He is excited for it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Canadian Press reports that British police are looking into the chances that any known & travel-banned West Ham hooligans took part in the fight between Columbus & West Ham fans last Sunday at Crew Stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

COLORADO RAPIDS

SMU senior-to-be Bruno Guarda has left school and signed with MLS, and the Raps have won his rights in a lottery. This guy has some talent. He was born in Brazil and plays in the attacking portion of the midfield.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Buzz Carrick at 3rd Degree attends team practice and gives us his observations.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC Dallas Updates has an email from assistant coach John Ellinger who is in Argentina on a scouting trip.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Midfielder Marcelo Saragosa will miss the Sunday game against Los Angeles due to Yellow Card accumulation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

The Washington Post on the power outage that again postponed the DC v Houston game last night at RFK Stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

A doubter from a small town Kansas newspaper takes in a Wizmatch and is impressed. Wait till he sees them in a real stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Beau Dure of USA Today sits down and talks turkey with David Beckham.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret News says RSL is doing it with defense.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Info on the Canadian Championship in the Canada & CSA News section below.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Canada's business newspaper the Financial Post has a story on how the club is run. They call it a success.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star on the papers TFC blog says the team needs more strikers baaaaaaaaaadly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 23
Real Salt Lake v Saprissa (Costa Rica)
Match preview by James Edward of the Deseret Morning News.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Official Team Of The Week for both First & Second Division.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Minnesota Thunder

Lot's of fan discussion on the USL Message Boards about the firing of Thunder head coach Amos Magee, and possible replacements.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 23
Vancouver v Charleston
-Thu Jul 24
Minnesota v Seattle
Portland v Carolina
-Fri Jul 25
Rochester v Montreal
-Sat Jul 26
Vancouver v Carolina
Seattle v Charleston
-Sun Jul 27
Montreal v Rochester
Miami v Atlanta
Minnesota v Puerto Rico
-Tue Jul 29
Miami v Vancouver
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Standings

Standings (games played):
30 Charleston (16)
27 Puerto Rico (16)
24 Rochester (17) (GD +3)
24 Vancouver (14) (GD +1)
23 Seattle (18)
22 Portland (19)
21 Atlanta (15)
20 Miami (19) (GD -4)
20 Carolina (17) (GD -7)
18 Montreal (16)
17 Minnesota (17)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA Olympic Team

US Soccer with a little bit on the first day of preparations for Team USA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Supposedly the NBC Olympic Soccer Channel is coming to all of our cable and satellite system in time for the games. Keep your eyes peeled on your channel listings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 News

Coach Thomas Rongen takes the U20's to the Milk Cup tournament in Northern Ireland again this year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here is our roster:
G:
Josh Lambo - FC Dallas
Brian Perk - UCLA
D:
Richard Balchan - Indiana U
Kyle Davies - Southampton FC
Ike Opara - Wake Forest U
Zarek Valentin - PA Classics
Anthony Wallace - FC Dallas
Sheanon Williams - U North Carolina
M:
Daniel Cruz - UNLV
Jorge Flores - Chivas USA
Michael Green - Columbus Crew Academy
Brandon Manzonelli - New England Revolution
Amobi Okugo - San Juan Lightning
Brek Shea - FC Dallas
F:
Vincenzo Bernardo - SSC Napoli
Abdus Ibrahim - Toronto FC
Peri Marosevic - U Michigan
Casey Townsend - U Maryland
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Matches & Scores:
-Mon Jul 28
USA v Northern Ireland
-Wed Jul 30
USA v Wales
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Belgium, Chile & Israel make up the other group.
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The final will be played on Fri Aug 1.
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Soccer In America

Barney Ronay of the Guardian with his opinion on the Crew v West Ham fisticuffs in Columbus.
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Americans In Europe

Aston Villa has signed goalkeeper Brad Friedel from Blackburn.
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TRANSFER RUMORS

The current list of teams who are interested in signing Michael Bradley looks like this: Blackburn, Celtic, Everton, Hamburg, Middlesbrough, Monaco & Werder Bremen. Impressive.
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Americans in Mexico

The New York Times with an article on American Edgar Castillo who went to play in Mexico at Santos Laguna and with the help of duel citizenship he has played for the Mexican national team. Good for him. Am I mad that he is not in MLS and playing for the USA? Yes. But it happens. The USA scouting gets better and better all the time and things will improve for us. On the other hand Castillo's story is different. People knew about him. He was a known quantity. Someone just blew it. And that is not good.
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With the Mexican Primera division almost ready to launch their Apertura season, Luis Bueno on his blog the Sideline Views previews our boys playing south of the border.
Player Previews:
-Marco Antonio Vidal - Indios de Ciudad Juarez
-Edgar Castillo - Santos Laguna
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Canada & CSA News

By virtue of a tie game last night Montreal has won the first Canadian Championship in the round-robin games between Toronto, Vancouver & Montreal to determine their countries entrant in the CONCACAF Champions League this fall.
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Huge congrats to the Impact on a big upset. It will be great to see them in the Champions League.
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Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 22
Toronto 1-1 Montreal - TFC goal by Rohan Ricketts. MI goal by Roberto Brown.
Match report from the National Post.
Match report by Jimmy McNulty of The Wire.
Match report by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Match report by Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail.
Match report from the Montreal Gazette.
Post game analysis by Ben Knight on the Globe & Mail blog On Soccer.
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Sports Net on what the win means for the Impact in the bigger picture.
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Standings (games played):
7 Montreal (4)
5 Toronto (4)
4 Vancouver (4) - has been eliminated
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Olympic Soccer News

Sports Illustrated has a slide show of their picks for players to watch at this Olympic tournament.
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England News

Arsenal defender Kolo Toure has been diagnosed with Malaria and will be out of action for 2-4 weeks.
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Alex James (would-be bassist for Blur) at the Guardian tells us about the changes in food sold at the football stadiums.
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European News

FRANCE

Lyon has signed Ghanaian defender John Mensah from Rennes.
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ITALY

I read yesterday that an underworld crime faction had tried to buy Lazio and failed. I admit I didn't much care because these things are often over blown only so newspapers will sell. But today my interest was swayed when I found out that one of the 7 people listed on the arrest warrant was Mr. Giorgio Chinaglia! Mr. I-Was-The-New-York-Cosmos himself! Ho ho! Now we are talking.
-Brian Lewis on the New York Post blog Extra Time with more details.
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RUSSIA

Premier League Standings: (14 of 30 rounds played)
28 Rubin Kazan
26 Amkar Perm
24 Dinamo Moscow
21 Spartak Moscow
20 Spartak Nalchik
20 Locomotive Moscow
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OTHERS

Fenerbahce has signed Turkish midfielder Emre Belozoglu from Newcastle.
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UEFA Champions League

First Qualifying Round 2nd leg matches & scores here. Some games were played yesterday, with the rest today.
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Inter Baki, Ventspils, Kaunas, Anorthosis, Dinamo Tbilisi & Sheriff have all advanced to the Second Qualifying Round. Those matches take place on Jul 29/30 & Aug 6/7.
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World News

Ravi Ubha of the Seattle Post Intelligencer with his weekly world soccer notes - The Beautiful Game.