Blow It Back News

Fulham Football Club gives us a video highlight reel of #8 Brian McBride's years on the team. Set to the tune of the Foo Fighters My Hero. (Thanks to BQ for this one).

~and~

Brad Guzan received his work permit today and can now officially join Aston Villa. Huge congrats go out to El Guzano. Chivas USA did a tribute video for him.

~and~

Holy Dead Fish Smell Batman! SF and his team of sleuths at The Offside Rules have unearthed all new trouble brewing with the building of Red Bull Park! WTF?


MLS Scoreboard

Week 19
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 2
DC v Kansas City - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Attendance:
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
Chicago v Chivas USA - 7:30pm central on HDNet
Attendance:
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview IL
Houston v Columbus - 7:30pm central on FSC & FSE
Attendance:
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
-Sun Aug 3
San Jose v Los Angeles - 2pm central on TeleFutura
Attendance:
Venue: McAfee Stadium, Oakland CA
Toronto v Dallas - 3pm central on Direct Kick
Attendance:
Venue: BMO Field, Toronto ON
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Neither midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco or defender Diego Gutierrez will play this weekend due to Yellow Card accumulation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Blanco was also fined by the league for his actions in the US Open Cup. It will cost him $7500 for the punch and headbutt he threw at DC a couple weeks back. The Open Cup itself has suspended him for 2 years!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CD CHIVAS USA

Head coach Preki will not be on the bench this weekend or the next while serving a 2 game Red Card suspension for haranguing the referees.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLORADO RAPIDS

Brian Forbes of the Denver Post says the team has lost out again on an attempt to sign Brazilian striker Reinaldo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Defender Frankie Hejduk will not play this weekend due to Yellow Card accumulation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Forward Steven Lenhart will not play this weekend due to Red Card suspension. He will also miss their game on Aug 16 for the same infraction.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Buzz Carrick at 3rd degree has a short Q & A with Kenny Cooper. Nothing revealing though. Just some nice stuff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Carrick then delivers to us his usual weekly FCD Practice Observations.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Listening to Marcelo Balboa's radio show this week, guest Ives Galarcep insinuated that Kenny Cooper could still leave FCD in the January transfer window. I can believe that.
-Wales Online reports that Cardiff City are not giving up on buying Cooper.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

Defender Gonzalo Martinez will not play this weekend due to Red Card suspension.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on DCU's acquisition of midfielder Ivan Guerrero from San Jose.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Midfielder Dwayne De Rosario will not play this weekend due to Yellow Card accumulation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Pete Grathoff of the Star says the Wiz are trying to make a deal for a player from another MLS team. Very few details though.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Monique Walker of the Boston Globe talks to Revs defender Jay Heaps who was Red Carded after the SuperLiga semifinal the other night and will miss the championship game. He does not understand why he got a the axe.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald on Heaps suspension as well.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Boston Globe blog Corner Kicks has a Q & A with Revs General Manager Craig Tornberg about his ordeal on an airplane two weeks ago. If you know the story already, you will learn several new details here. If not, then this is a doozy. I am still doing my best Shep Messing and saying, Wow!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Listening to Marcelo Balboa's radio show this week, guest Ives Galarcep suggested that Danny Dichio could miss the rest of the season with his concussion symptoms. What a drag that would be. Even though I don't like the guy, he has been great for his team, and like I always say, the league needs villains too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ben Knight of the Globe & Mail's On Soccer blog says he loves the trade with Chicago for Chad Barrett. Let's hope he is right.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dean McNulty of the Sun on Barrett and Dichio.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sports Net Canada with several notes on TFC.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet asks the 10 questions crucial for the rest of the MLS season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America gives us his Best XI in MLS so far this season, plus a MVP, and Rookie & Defender of the Year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Lalas at Goal.com with his column 3-5-2 - the Earthquakes, the USA Olympic team, the Crew & Kenny Cooper.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Friendlies

-Sun Aug 3
Colorado v Everton (England)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider reports that defender Cory Gibbs is very close to signing with MLS. He would go to the team at the top of the allocation list. But it's unknown just who that is currently.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kobenhavn are again rumored to be interested in Houston midfielder Dwayne De Rosario. Is this the third year in a row we have heard this one?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Expansion News

The Ottawa Business Journal with an article on Eugene Melnyk who wants to bring MLS to his city. He is the owner of the Ottawa Senators NHL team.
-Just so you know, Ottawa is located about 120 miles straight west of Montreal. (And I admit, I had to look it up myself.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Oregonian on the Portland Timbers' MLS interest.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Carolina has signed Salvadoran striker Ronald Cerritos who was released earlier this week by Second Division team Real Maryland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Aug 1
Atlanta v Charleston
Puerto Rico v Seattle
Carolina v Vancouver - 7pm central on FSC
-Sat Aug
Minnesota v Portland
-Sun Aug 3
Charleston v Vancouver
Puerto Rico v Carolina
Rochester v Atlanta
-Tue Aug 5
Atlanta v Vancouver
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA Olympic Team

Jonah Freedman at Sports Illustrated with an article on Benny Feilhaber, who needs to use this tournament to get his club career back on track.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports on Brian McBride's leadership for our team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Aberdeen (Scotland) Evening Express talks to their native son, and USA midfielder, Stuart Holden.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ING Cup Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jul 30
USA 0-0 Cote d'Ivoire
-Sat Aug 2
USA v Cameroon
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer with photos from the Ivory Coast game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Last night I was checking my DVR to see if there were any Olympic game updates and sure enough this popped up:
-Tue Aug 7 USA v Japan - live at 4am central on MSNBC
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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).
-Wed Jul 30
USA 4-0 Wales - USA goals by Brek Shea(2), Peri Marosevic & Danny Cruz.
Match report from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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

Final Matches & Scores:
-Fri Aug 1
5th Place - Wales 0-2 Israel
3rd Place - USA 2-1 Belgium
1st Place - Chile 1-2 Northern Ireland
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

International Club Friendly in Chicago at Soldier Field
Match & Score:
-Sun Aug 3
Guadalajara Chivas v Barcelona
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Be forewarned - Barca will be without Lionel Messi who is at the Olympics.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Oguchi Onyewu and his team Standard Liege will enter the UEFA Champions League in the Third Qualifying Round, but they have been paired against Liverpool. The 2 legged series will be played on Aug 12/13 and Aug 26/27.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many Americans will enter the Second Qualifying Round of the UEFA Cup on Aug 14:
-Brian Arguez - Hertha Berlin - take on NK Ljubljana of Slovenia
-Vincezno Bernardo - Napoli - take on Vllaznia of Albania
-Carlos Bocanegra - Stade Rennais - take on Stabaek of Norway
-Dan Califf - Midtjylland - take on Manchester City of England
-Mikkel Diskerud - Stabaek - take on Stade Rennais of France
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - take on Hafnarfjordur of Iceland
-Ryan Guy - St Patricks Athletic - take on Elfsborg of Sweden
-Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - take on Hafnarfjordur of Iceland
-Eric Lichaj - Aston Villa - take on Hafnarfjordur of Iceland
-Ellis McLoughlin - Hertha Berlin - take on NK Ljubljana of Slovenia
-Alfredo Morales - Hertha Berlin - take on NK Ljubljana of Slovenia
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans in Mexico

Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated talks to Pachuca midfielder Jose Francisco Torres about playing for Team USA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Olympic Soccer News

Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer tips us off to a story in the Washington Post about the long term woes of China's national soccer team. Great stuff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com with a look a the make up of the squads.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South American News

The battle is coming right down to the wire in the Brazilian national championship campaign.
Here are the standings:
(16 of 19 rounds have been played.)
32 Gremio
30 Cruzeiro
29 Vitoria
28 Flamengo
28 Palmeiras
27 Sao Paulo
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Key Round 17 Matches & Scores:
-Sun Aug 3
Flamengo v Cruzeiro
Gremio v Vitoria
Sao Paulo v Vasco de Gama (12th place)
Ipatinga (20th place) v Palmeiras
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

From the just released Guardian Book of Football:
-Speed, power and touch make modest Rush my top choice by John Barnes
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

FRANCE

Star French defender Lilian Thuram has decided to retire after a physical showed signs of heart problems.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ITALY

Italian Super Cup
-Last season's league winner v last season's league cup winner.
Match & Score:
-Sun Aug 24
Inter v Roma in Milan at San Siro.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Coppa Italia starts on Aug 9 with the minnows kicking off. Many Serie A team join in 2 rounds later on Aug 23, and the real big boys join on round 4 starting Nov 12.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RUSSIA

The Moscow Tournament (friendly) is going on this weekend:
-Fri Aug 1
Sevilla 1-0 Milan
Lokomotiv v Chelsea
-Sun Aug 3
Sevilla v Loko/Chel winner
Milan v Loko/Chel loser
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SPAIN

Real Madrid has brought two of their talented youth team players back to the senior team after a season out on loans. Both Javi Garcia at Osasuna and Ruben de la Red at Getafe had outstanding seasons last year and we should not be surprised if they are huge contributors to Los Merengues success in 08/09.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League

The Second Qualifying Round 2nd leg matches will take place Aug 5 & 6.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some very big teams will join the tournament in the Third (and final) Qualifying Round on Aug 12/13 and 26/27. Some names are:
Olympiacos
Schalke
Atletico Madrid
Barcelona
Liverpool
Arsenal
Juventus
Marseille
Fiorentina
Galatasaray
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup

The Second Qualifying Round matches will take place Aug 14 (1st leg) and Aug 28 (2nd leg).