It's A Third Over Already News

2 MLS teams advanced and 2 were elminated by lower division teams last night in the US Open Cup. And the way the semifinal pairing sort out at least one lower division team will be in the final!

~and~

The Johannesburg Mail & Guardian in South Africa has the first info on 2010 World Cup ticket allocations for general fans. Interesting stuff here for us fans. See Road To World Cup 2010 section below for more.


US Open Cup

New England, DC, Charleston & Seattle move on to the Semifinals next month!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Quarterfinals Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 8
New England Revolution 1-1 Crystal Palace Baltimore - NER advance 5-3 on Penalty Kicks - NER goal by Kenny Mansally. CPB goal by Dan Lader.
Match report from the Baltimore Sun.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report by Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald.
Match report from the Hartford Courant.
DC United 2-1 Chicago Fire - DCU goals by Francis Doe & Bryan Namoff. CF goal by Daniel Woolard.
Match report from the Washington Post.
Match report from the Washington Times.
Match report by Chris Webb of United Mania.
Post game notes and DC coach & player quotes from the Washington Post blog Soccer Insider.
Post game notes by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card.
FC Dallas 1-3 Charleston Battery - FCD goal by Kenny Cooper. CB goals by Lazo Alavanja, Ian Fuller & Randi Patterson.
Match report from the Charleston Post & Courier.
Match report by Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News.
Match report from the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Seattle Sounders 0-0 Kansas City Wizards - SS adv 6-5 on PK's.
Match report by Matt Massey of the Seattle Times.
Match report by Matthew Gaschk of the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
Match report from the Tacoma News Tribune.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ejections:
Sergio Flores - Crystal Palace Baltimore
Cuauhtemoc Blanco - Chicago Fire
Marc Burch - DC United
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Washington Post match report (above) gives a pretty good account of the action that got both Burch and Blanco Red Carded.
-But there have been unconfirmed reports that Blanco spit in the 4th officials face, and headbutted someone working at the stadium. I really hope this is not true. That would be ugly.
-There is some video footage on You Tube now. It starts at around the 28 second mark, and clearly shows Blanco throwing a punch.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New England forward Taylor Twellman injured his ankle again, right at the end of regulation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Semifinals Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 12
DC United v New England Revolution
Charleston Battery v Seattle Sounders
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Scoreboard

Week 16
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jul 10
Kansas City v New York - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Los Angeles v Chivas USA - 10pm central on ESPN2 & ESPN Deportes
-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
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Orrin Schwarz on the Fire's talented striker prospect, Patrick Nyarko.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Chris DeVille of Columbus Alive with an article on the Crew's young Nigerian midfielder Emmanuel Ekpo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch has an article on the Crew U18 team that has made it to the final 8 of the US Development Academy championships. The tournament for this teams is in California next week, with the final being shown live on ESPN2.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

The deal for Argentine defender Eduardo Dominguez is done. Now they have to clear space on their roster, and wait until the transfer window opens next Tuesday, the 15th, so they can get him on the field. He previously played for Huracan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Maria Burns Ortiz at Soccernet with a story on defender Jay Heaps and his early years as a big time college basketball player. Did you have any idea he played basketball at Duke? I am amazed I had never heard that before. Oh, wait, that's right, announcers mention it in EVERY SINGLE GAME he has played since he joined the league in 1999.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Add another Spanish speaker to the roster - Defender Diego Jimenez of Mexico. Played last season for UAdG Tecos in Guadalajara.
-Brian Lewis of the NY Post on the Extra Time blog with some more details on this story.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer gives us an update on the health of Claudio Reyna.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They say Juan Pablo Angel is healthy and will start on Thursday night.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

Salt Lake and their soon to be finished new stadium will host the 2009 All Star game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Edward of the Deseret News with an article on young player Tino Nunez who is getting paid about minimum wage, but already has a game winning goal on his mantel piece.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Edwards also writes that tonight's game against Santos Laguna is a great time for reserves to shake what their momma gave em.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Midfielder Carl Robinson with more of his propaganda for his hometown paper, the County Times. It's always the referee's fault when you lose. Right Carl?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star with his weekly column. Always good stuff in here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scott Wolf of the LA Daily News talks to foreign players about their view of MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Soccer News with an article on the changes youth development is going through right now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Hush at Soccernet with his weekly league notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 9
Colorado v UANL Tigres (Mexico) - The Raps play their Mexican partners at Dick's in Commerce City.
Salt Lake v Santos Laguna (Mexico) - First leg of the Xango Cup, against the Mexican champs!
Columbus v Independiente (Argentina)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Brian Lewis of the NY Post on the Extra Time blog with a rumor on a couple of Honduran youngsters on trial with the Red Bulls.
-Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer counters with an quote from NYRB coach Juan Carlos Osorio saying these players are NOT coming for a tryout.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Stadium Talk

The Seattle Sounders did a Q & A with one of the great people in American soccer - Glenn Davis. The man from Houston does commentary on TV and radio, hosts both TV and radio shows, and writes for the Houston Chronicle. He is my idea of a soccer Saint.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New England Revs owners are in talks about a stadium with the city officials of the Boston suburb of Somerville. (Thanks to LL who sent us this.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Center Line Soccer says money and land have exchanged hands taking the team another step closer to buidling a stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SuperLiga

Official Website
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group A
DC United
Houston Dynamo
Guadalajara Chivas
Atlante Potros de Hierro
Group B
Chivas USA
Santos Laguna Guerreros
New England Revolution
Pachuca Tuzos
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jul 12
DC v Guadalajara
Houston v Atlante
-Sun Jul 13
New England v Santos Laguna
Chivas USA v Pachuca
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Three teams swapped players yesterday:
Rochester: Acquire midfielder Andrew Gregor. Give up goalkeeper Chase Harrison & forward Hamed Diallo.
Portland: Acquire goalkeeper Chase Harrison & forward Jamil Walker. Give up midfielder Andrew Gregor.
Carolina: Acquire forward Hamed Diallo. Give up forward Jamil Walker.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA Olympic Team

You can expect most of the Olympic soccer coverage to be on the USA Network. No viewing schedule has been made available yet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 News

Match & Score:
-Fri Jul 11
USA v Mexico - 8pm central in Laredo TX
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U17 News

The annual trip to South America for Friendlies.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jul 4
Uruguay 0-2 USA - in Montevideo Uruguay - USA goals by Jack McInerney & Carlos Martinez.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Three games in Rosario Argentina as part of Copa Ciudad de Rosario
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 9
ARF (Rosario) v USA
-Thu Jul 10
Argentina v USA
-Fri Jul 11
Chile v USA
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF News

Panama has named Gary Stempel as their new national team head coach.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

Reuters is reporting that Panama has filed an official complaint with FIFA about racial and physical abuse suffered in El Salvador during their recent qualifier, in which they were eliminated.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Canada & CSA News

The fifth of six games between Toronto, Vancouver & Montreal to determine their countries entrant in the CONCACAF Champions League takes place this week:
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 9
Vancouver V Toronto
Match preview from the Vancouver Sun.
Match preview from the National Post.
Match preview from the Toronto Star.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Danny Dichio will not play for Toronto. He has concussion symptoms.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jim Brennan is suspended for TFC due to Yellow Card accumulation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Standings (games played):
6 Montreal (3)
3 Toronto (2)
3 Vancouver (3)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Aston Villa has signed Steve Sidwell from Chelsea. Sidwell barely played last year after forcing his way out of Reading where he had been a star. Now that was a poor move.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Peter "Crouchy's eatin' his nachos" Crouch has left Liverpool to sign with Portsmouth.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at the high stakes poker of the transfer window for guys like C Ronaldo & Arshavin.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FRANCE

FIFA has a Q & A with Dutch midfielder Boudewijn Zenden, who may be at the end of his days with Marseille already.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ITALY

Juventus has signed big strong Brazilian striker Amauri from Palermo. He do some real damage this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Lalas of Goal.com runs into Roma defender Christian Panucci in a New York restaurant. They exchange a few words. I am not sure this is worth reading. Hahaha.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

Ravi Ubha of the Seattle Post Intelligencer with is weekly column, The Beautiful Game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Road To World Cup 2010 - South Africa News

FIFA will increase the number of tickets for fans from participating countries at the next World Cup from 16 percent of capacity to 24. Good news indeed, but, still not nearly enough.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Johannesburg Mail & Guardian in South Africa with the first real info on ticketing for fans.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The new stadium being built in Port Elizabeth has been scratched from the list for next summers Confederations Cup (aka the World Cup test run) because it will not be ready in time.