Gripping Too Tight News

Our main man Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated sits down with Jozy Altidore who begins his new life at Villarreal next Monday! Great stuff. See Americans In Europe section.

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San Jose gets their hands on Huckerby. See San Jose section for details.

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When you book your room at the Hotel du Nord, don't forget to pack your Due Nord II shorts, the official sportswear of du Nord futbol. (thank you Adam!)


MLS Scoreboard

Week 16
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jul 10
Kansas City v New York - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Match preview One and Two from Big Apple Soccer.
Los Angeles v Chivas USA - 10pm central on ESPN2 & ESPN Deportes
Match previews galore by Andrea Canales & Luis Bueno on Sideline Views.
Match preview by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Match preview by Beau Dure of USA Today.
Match preview by Luis Bueno at MLSnet.
Match preview by Phil Collin of the LA Daily News.
Match preview by Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports.
-Sat Jul 12
San Jose v Colorado - 3pm central on Direct Kick
Chicago v Toronto - 7:30pm central on FSC & FSE
Salt Lake v Columbus v - 8pm central on HDNet
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MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
33 New England
27 Columbus
22 DC
21 Chicago (GD +9)
21 Toronto (GD 0)
20 New York
17 Kansas City
Western Conference
21 Los Angeles (GD +3)
21 Chivas (GD +1)
20 Salt Lake (GD -1)
20 Houston (GD -2)
19 Colorado
18 Dallas
12 San Jose
(Goal Differential is the first tie breaker)
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MLS 2008 All Star Team

Here is your First XI:
G:
Matt Reis - 1
D:
Michael Parkhurst - 1
Frankie Hejduk - 1
Jimmy Conrad - none
M:
David Beckham - 1
Cuauhtemoc Blanco - 2
Shalrie Joseph - 2
Sacha Kljestan - 1
Robbie Rogers - 2
F:
Landon Donovan - 1
Kenny Cooper - 2
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(The number after each name is which of 3 teams the player made on the du Nord Midseason Best 11. That list will be published on Friday.)
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

There is a lot of reviewing and behind the scenes talking going on about the incident in Maryland on Tuesday night where Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Marc Burch got Red Cards for a physical altercation. There have been many other accusations made about even more violence taking place than what we have seen on video (see yesterdays du Nord). Here is more of what we are reading:
-Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with an article on the fracas, and a response from the Fire.
-Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner on his blog The Pitch on the subject at hand.
-Arroyave has two mentions of the situation on his blog The Red Card. One - and - Two.
-The Washington Post with some info on the story.
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COLORADO RAPIDS

I was surprised to read that Greg Dalby has signed with Colorado after playing last season in Belgium at Charleroi. He will be added to the roster next Tuesday when the transfer period begins.
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FC DALLAS

Tobias Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram talks to new assistant coach John Ellinger about his role with the team, and youth development.
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DC UNITED

The Washington Times with an article on coach Tom Soehn and his plan for DCU greatness.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Bob Luder of the Star with an article on forward Scott Sealy who really needs to start scoring some goals if this team is to have any chance getting a playoff spot.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times has a Q & A with new-old forward Josh Wolff.
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Lars Lifrak of Soccer365 does a Q & A with defender Jimmy Conrad.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

LA will be without their best defender tonight - rookie centerback Sean Franklin is out 2 to 3 weeks with an MCL sprain. Not good for the Galaxinho's.
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Andrea Canales on Sideline Views does a Q & A with Landon Donovan.
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Scott Wolf of the LA Daily News with team notes.
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Some chucklehead at The Sun talks to Beck's. Why do English celeb's do interviews with these people? Why do I link to it? Cuz I'm an idiot?
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Metrofanatic reports that midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic has been asked to take a pay cut and be placed on the teams developmental roster in order to make room for the 3 new signings. They tried this earlier in the season with rookie defender Eric Brunner and he told them to take a frickin hike. He now plays for Miami in the First Division for more money. What will Ubi do?
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Big Apple Soccer has words from coach Juan Carlos Osorio about new signing Diego Jimenez.
-Big Apple says the team wants even more new players.
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The Herald News with more on the new boys.
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REAL SALT LAKE

Head coach Jason Kreis has been suspended for a 2nd time this season after ripping the referees. This time he gets 2 games in the cheap seats.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Soccer by Ives reports that the EQ's signed English forward Darren Huckerby from Norwich.
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Goal.com talks to the teams big young Jamaican midfielder/forward Ryan Johnson about this difficult first season for an expansion team.
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GENERAL

Perhaps this is the kind of referee MLS is looking for? (thanks to Nick for sending it my way)
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger with his notes - This Week In MLS.
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Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com with his thoughts on the suspension of Jason Kreis and the All Star selections.
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MLS Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 9
Colorado 0-0 UANL Tigres (Mexico) - CR win it 7-6 on PK's.
Match report by Pat Rooney of the Rocky Mountain News.
Match report by Brian Forbes of the Denver Post.
Salt Lake 1-4 Santos Laguna (Mexico) - RSL goal by Alex Nimo. SL goals by David Horst(OG), Oribe Peralta, Gregorio Torres & Andony Hernandez.
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret News.
Match report by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Columbus v Independiente (Argentina) - CC goals by Robbie Rogers & Jason Garey. Ind goal by Pablo Vitti.
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Post game notes by Mitchell from the Dispatch blog Covering The Crew.
-Tue Jul 15
Toronto v Independiente (Argentina)
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SuperLiga

Official Website
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All games live on TeleFutura.
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Round 1 Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jul 12
DC v Guadalajara - 7pm central
Houston v Atlante - 9pm central
-Sun Jul 13
New England v Santos Laguna - 7pm central
Chivas USA v Pachuca - 9pm central
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet doesn't think the Mexican teams will take their MLS counterparts lightly in this tournament after what they saw last year.
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USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jul 10
Portland v Puerto Rico
-Fri Jul 11
Rochester v Seattle
Minnesota v Carolina
-Sat Jul 12
Charleston v Puerto Rico
-Sun Jul 13
Montreal v Seattle
Rochester v Miami
Vancouver v Carolina
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USL First Division Standings

Standings (games played):
27 Charleston (14)
23 Vancouver (13)
21 Portland (16)
20 Seattle (15) (GD +4)
20 Atlanta (14) (GD -2)
19 Miami (17)
18 Puerto Rico (13) (GD +2)
18 Carolina (14) (GD -5)
16 Minnesota (15)
15 Montreal (14)
14 Rochester (13)
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USA U20 News

Match & Score:
-Fri Jul 11
USA v Mexico - 8pm central in Laredo TX
Match preview by Andrew Rogers of Soccernet.
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USA U17 News

The annual trip to South America for Friendlies.
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Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jul 4
Uruguay 0-2 USA - in Montevideo Uruguay - USA goals by Jack McInerney & Carlos Martinez.
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Three games in Rosario Argentina as part of Copa Ciudad de Rosario
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 9
ARF (Rosario) 1-3 USA - ARF goal by Cabrera Alberto(PK). USA goals by Robert Derschang, Victor Pineda & Jaime Gutierrez.
Match report from US Soccer.
-Thu Jul 10
Argentina v USA
-Fri Jul 11
Chile v USA
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Soccer In America

Sports Illustrated has recently unleashed a huge archive on us, and this story about the final days of the NASL, is a good one indeed. (Thanks to Jerry for unearthing this story for us)
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Americans In Europe

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated talks to new Villarreal player Jozy Altidore.
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RUMORS

Bologna are interested in Freddy Adu.
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Aston Villa has joined Manchester City in trying to sign Brad Friedel.
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Canada & CSA News

The round-robin games between Toronto, Vancouver & Montreal determine their countries entrant in the CONCACAF Champions League this fall.
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With only 4 points from their 4 games, Vancouver has been elimidated from the playoff.
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Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 9
Vancouver 2-2 Toronto - Van goals both by Eddie Sebrango. TFC goals by Maurice Edu & Rohan Ricketts.
Match report from the Vancouver Sun.
Match report from the Toronto Globe & Mail.
Post game analysis by Ben Knight at the Globe & Mail blog On Soccer.
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Standings (games played):
6 Montreal (3)
4 Toronto (3)
4 Vancouver (4)
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England News

Martin Samuel of The Times tells us the difference between Luiz Felipe Scolari and Big Phil.
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European News

ITALY

Inter has signed flashy Brazilian midfielder Mancini from Roma.
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SPAIN

Grahame Jones of the LA Times on former Mexico coach Javier Aguirre and his club team Atletico Madrid.
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Barcelona has agreed to a deal with Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb.
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Barca president Joan Laporte did NOT resign today as expected, but 8 of 17 members of the teams board of directors did. Oof.
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OTHERS

Bosnia has named Miroslav Blazevic as their new national team coach. He is Croatian.