Below-oh-oh News

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What a night! Did you ever imagine that Carlos Bocanegra would score 10 career goals for the USA? He saved our bacon again last night! All hail Charlie Blackmouth! It was the first USA win in Guatemala in 20 years.

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Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider has a fantastic quote from USA keeper Tim Howard talking about Guatemala forward Carlos Ruiz who everyone knows is a very dirty player: "He caught me. He kicked me straight in the head. With Carlos, you expect that. You know what? He's dirty. I wish I could say otherwise. I've seen it [in MLS]. There is no place for it. It's reckless. It's there for everyone to see. I kind of expect it.... That's what he does. I think you would rather have him be a man out there and say, 'Look, I don't like you, I am going to kick you.' You can almost respect it in a funny way. He has this way about him. He kicks, he punches, he's an *&%$@#. And he wants to come and be your friend [when he tried to apologize]. There is no place for it."


Team USA

Guatemala 0-1 USA - USA goal by Carlos Bocanegra.
Venue: Estadio Mateo Flores, Guatemala City
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by Ives Galarcep at Soccernet.
Post game quotes by USA coach & players from US Soccer.
Post game audio interviews with: Carlos Bocanegra & Michael Bradley - AND - Eddie Lewis, Tim Howard & Landon Donovan - AND - Head coach Bob Bradley, all from US Soccer.
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Ejections:
Steve Cherundolo - USA - 2 Yellow Cards
Gustavo Cabrera - Guatemala - Red Card for violent conduct
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Official team blog.
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The front page of Guatemala City's big newspaper Prensa Libre puts their countries loss below the fold. You know it would be above the fold if they had won.
-There is a particularly funny picture of Carlos Ruiz with his classic hands-on-head stunned look of disbelief. This picture was probably taken right after he kicked Tim Howard in the face, but could not believe the referee did not allow him to score a goal when Howard let go of the ball. Hahahahahahahahahahaha. The little fish is a very funny dude.
-Scroll down quite a ways to see the entire Sports section with lots more stories and pictures.
-They call the referee "The Great Villain", presumably for not calling several more Yellow Cards on the Guate players. Hahahahahaha. I did question the Guate Red Card, but only after seeing it in slow-motion replay. On initial viewing it was a full on Red Card. In reality though he let so many other things go in favor of the home team that I just can't feel any sympathy. As for the hand ball in the box against Heath Pearce, puh-lease. If he had made a similar call against Guatemala the press and fans would have said it was a bad call. Whats good for one is good for all.
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I would also suspect that Guatemala will pretend one of their players didn't try to maim Bocanegra right after he scored. Watch the replay, and think of Oswaldo Biggest-Cry-Baby-On-Earth Sanchez.

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Schedule

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 20
Group A
Cuba 1-3 Trinidad & Tobago - Cub goal by Jeniel Marquez. T&T goals by Keon Daniel(2) & Cornell Glen.
Guatemala 0-1 USA - USA goal by Carlos Bocanegra.
Group B
Canada 1-1 Jamaica - Can goal by Julian de Guzman. Jam goal by Pat Onstad(OG).
Mexico 2-1 Honduras - Mex goals both by Pavel Pardo. Hond goal by Julio Cesar Leon.
Group C
Costa Rica 1-0 El Salvador - CR goal by Alvaro Saborio(PK).
Haiti 2-2 Surinam - Hai goals by Frantz Bertin & Brunel Fucien. Sur goals both by Wensley Christoph.
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 22
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 20
New England 2-1 DC - NER goals by Taylor Twellman & Jeff Larentowicz. DCU goal by Jaime Moreno.
Attendance: 14,962
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
Match report by Monique Walker of the Boston Globe.
Match report by John Connolly of the Boston Herald.
Match report by Kyle McCarthy for the Washington Post.
Post game notes by Walker.
Houston 4-0 Chivas USA - HD goals by Stuart Holden, Kei Kamara(2) & Nate Jaqua.
Attendance: 10,908
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
Match report by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Post game notes by Fallas.
Post game notes & Houston player ratings by Fallas on his blog Soccer y Futbol.
-Thu Aug 21
Los Angeles v Chicago - 9pm central on ESPN2
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
Match preview by Andrea Canales at Soccernet.
-Sat Aug 23
DC v Colorado - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
Toronto v New England - 6:30pm central on Fox Soccer Channel
Venue: BMO Field, Toronto ON
Columbus v Salt Lake - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Crew Stadium, Columbus OH
Kansas City v Dallas - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark, Kansas City KS
Chivas USA v San Jose - 9:30pm central on HDNet
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
-Sun Aug 24
New York v Houston - 2pm central on TeleFutura
Venue: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
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League Standings
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MLS News

CD CHIVAS USA

This team is clearly in trouble when they get whitewashed by Houston who were missing their 3 best players to World Cup qualifying. How do you fix this? You can't make players healthy using magic.
-To make it worse, the team added to their wounded list as defender Carey Talley left last nights game with a left thigh injury.
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DC UNITED

Jaime Moreno added to his all time MLS league lead in goals scored - he now has 121.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Midfielder Brian Mullan played game #100 in a Houston uniform. While defender Bobby Boswell played in his 100th MLS game.
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MLS Stadium Talk

The Houston Chronicle with new city financial info on a possible stadium deal for the Dynamo.
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USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 20
Montreal 3-1 Atlanta
Seattle 0-0 Vancouver
-Fri Aug 22
Puerto Rico v Charleston
Minnesota v Carolina
Vancouver v Portland
-Sat Aug 23
Rochester v Atlanta
-Sun Aug 24
Miami v Charleston
Montreal v Atlanta
Seattle v Carolina
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USL First Division Standings

Standings (games played) (goal difference):
41 Puerto Rico (23)
39 Vancouver (23)
36 Charleston (23)
33 Seattle (25)
32 Atlanta (23)
31 Rochester (24)
28 Montreal (22) (GD +1)
- - - - - - - - -
28 Portland (24) (GD -4)
27 Minnesota (23)
24 Miami (23) (GD -3)
24 Carolina (23) (GD -11)
(The top 7 teams advance to the playoffs.)
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Mexico & FMF News

Graciela Resendiz of ESPNDeportes with a Primera league round up.
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Olympic Soccer News

FIFA's Olympic News Site
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Olympic Soccer Scoreboard

Women's Final Match & Score:
-Thu Aug 21
Brazil v USA
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Men's Final Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 23
Nigeria v Argentina