Can We Begin To Build It News

WHY IN THE NAME OF SWEET JIMINY HELL ARE THERE 3 MLS GAMES ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT????? THERE ARE WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS ALL OVER THE WORLD, AND THIS LEAGUE ALMOST NEVER PLAYS MID-WEEK GAMES! ALMOST EVERY GREAT PLAYER WILL BE OUT OF HIS CLUB TEAMS LINEUP. WHAT A JOKE! MLS CONTINUES TO FIND NEW WAYS TO LOOK STUPID, AND THIS IS COMING FROM A GUY WHO WOULD ALMOST KILL FOR THE LEAGUE!

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Landon Donovan to Steven Goff on the chances he and teammate Carlos Ruiz will make it back to LA in time for their Thursday night match v Chicago from their international match in Guatemala City: "I will be back, but whether I play, I would highly doubt it. You never know. My guess is Carlos [Ruiz] won't be back, but I don't know. (laughing) My guess is Carlos will be in Guatemala for a few days, if I know him correctly." See Team USA section for more from Goff in Guate City.

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Is Toronto going grassy? No this is not a double entendre drug joke. See Toronto FC section for possible great news.


Team USA

Guatemala v USA - 9pm central time on ESPN2
Venue: Estadio Mateo Flores, Guatemala City
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By the way, the stadium is named after a long distance runner who had great success on the world stage.
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Part of me feels like this is biggest USA game played since the loss to Ghana on June 23 2006 in Nurnberg Germany.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider gives us some notes from Guatemala City.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet feels the key to USA success in Guatemala City lies at the feet of our forwards.
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US Soccer has audio of an interview with DaMarcus Beasley. Download or listen here.
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Some notes and facts about tomorrow's game from US Soccer.
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Official team blog.
-Hilarious picture from the blog - Donovan & Dempsey playing chess on the team plane..... using Dempsey’s new Chess for Dummies board!
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Our teams arrival in Guatemala City made the main photo on the front page of today’s edition of Prensa Libre, under the headline - "Extreme security for the USA team." This is followed by a diagram of security at the stadium. It looks really massive. One article even says the USA team has their own security detail composed of Navy Seals and FBI Agents.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post gives us a preview of Guatemala's quest for the World Cup.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Schedule

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 20
Group A
Cuba v Trinidad & Tobago
Guatemala v USA
Group B
Canada v Jamaica
Mexico v Honduras
Group C
Costa Rica v El Salvador
Haiti v Surinam
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 22
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 20
New England v DC - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
NOTE: This game will probably be without (due to national team call ups)
Houston v Chivas USA - 8pm central on Direct Kick
-Thu Aug 21
Los Angeles v Chicago - 9pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Aug 23
DC v Colorado - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Toronto v New England - 6:30pm central on Fox Soccer Channel
Columbus v Salt Lake - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Kansas City v Dallas - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Chivas USA v San Jose - 9:30pm central on HDNet
-Sun Aug 24
New York v Houston - 2pm central on TeleFutura
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League Standings
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Orrin Schwarz of the Daily Herald says the Fire see the high qualities of Brian McBride immediately.
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CD CHIVAS USA

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer makes his list of all the players UNAVAILABLE to the American Goats on Wednesday night (it's pretty insane):
-Justin Braun Right ankle sprain Out
-Jesse Marsch Fractured jaw Out
-Lawson Vaughn Right knee sprain Out
-Raphael Wicky Right ankle surgery Out
-Alex Zotinca Right knee surgery Out
-Maykel Galindo Sports hernia surgery Questionable
-Jonathan Bornstein Right hip strain Probable
-Alecko Eskandarian Sports hernia surgery Probable
-Jorge Flores Right ankle tendonitis Probable
-Ante Razov Left knee sprain Probable
-Claudio Suarez Concussion Probable
-Sacha Kljestan with the U.S. National Team
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FC DALLAS

Hey! He's back. Our friend in crime fighting, DJ Walker, digs down deep and gives us his own special brand of a match report - Stream of Consciousness.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Bruce Arena was not only hired as the teams new coach, but also as their general manager. The same role he held in New York. I have always thought it's a better idea to split these jobs up, but apparently AEG is cool with it. We shall see.
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Several articles on the new coach & gm:
-Nick Green of the Daily Breeze feels that AEG needs to give Arena time to make it all work. Which Red Bull did not.
-Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise questions some of the glossiness of Arena's track record.
-The LA Daily New says Arena has the name. Does he have what it takes to succeed with the Galaxy though?
-Grahame Jones of the LA Times on the hiring.
-Ives Galarcep at Soccernet says Arena seeks redemption for the Red Bulls continued mediocrity under him.
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Andrea Canales on her blog Sideline Views with lots of quotes from Arena's press conference, including a hilarious exchange between Arena and Grahame Jones about a scratch on Arena's neck. You can see some of Arena's sly sense of humor (which I am a big fan of) at work here too.
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Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America talks to Landon Donovan about his new head coach.
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Arena will keep Cobi Jones as an assistant and add old friend Dave Sarachan to his staff as well.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

The Equakes laid out a classic beatdown last weekend to a team (New England) that should have done that to them. It was an amazing match to watch (in HD on HDNet no less) if you were Pro-SJE or Anti-NER! It's taken very little time for that big goofy general manager John Doyle and coach Frank Yallop to build a very solid team. Most of us knew they did it right on defense from day 1, something the 3 previous expansion team, Chivas USA, Real Salt Lake & Toronto FC botched badly. But this recent transfer period saw the team go out and add serious offense to this team. Could Doyle be a front runner for team executive of the year? Absolutely. Again, amazing. The beatdown they put on New England, 4-0, could be chalked up to several players being out due to suspension, Olympics and injury, but those are simply excuses, and I don't rate excuses highly. And New England are good. Give it a good look - Ronnie O'Brien, Francisco Lima, Scott Sealy, Darren Huckleberry, and Ryan Johnson are really making things happen. Let's see em do it on the road now too. Does anyone think the playoffs are a possibility. I honestly don't, but on the other hand with what we have seen the past few weeks you certainly could not be surprised if it happened. (Thanks to Steven for inspiring these few words.)
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The Norwich Evening News with an article on a Norwich/Darren Huckerby fan who now lives in Northern California and has been making videos of San Jose's new star to send back home to England to old friends & fellow fans. They have become something of a sensation. This is what true fandom is all about!
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TORONTO FC

The Globe & Mail reports that TFC director Mo Johnston is going to try and spend the money they just made from selling Maurice Edu on installing a GRASS PLAYING SURFACE at BMO Field!!! It would be huge. And it could make pro-Mo.
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GENERAL

San Jose midfielder Ronnie O'Brien was named Player Of The Week.
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Jeff Bradley (we thought you had given up on the beautiful game) at MLSnet with his First XI look at big midseason coaching changes in league history.
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USL First Division News

The Seattle Post Intelligencer with an article on Sounders star striker Sebastian LeToux who only misses one thing about his native France - bakeries. The rest is preferable here in the USA. Le Toux was the first, and so far only, team member to sign a MLS contract for next year.
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USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 20
Montreal v Atlanta
Seattle v 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)
38 Vancouver (22)
36 Charleston (23)
32 Seattle (24) (GD -1)
32 Atlanta (22) (GD -3)
31 Rochester (24)
28 Portland (24)
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27 Minnesota (23)
25 Montreal (21)
24 Miami (23) (GD -3)
24 Carolina (23) (GD -11)
(The top 7 teams advance to the playoffs.)
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Americans In Europe

The Glasgow Evening Times with an article on new Ranger Maurice Edu.
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Greg Seltzer at Soccer365 talks to 3 players about big games, big moves and new teams:
-Colin Burns’ big clean sheet in the net for Ljungskile last weekend.
-Matthew Dallman and his encouraging start at Ariminia Bielefeld.
-Benny Feilhaber's move to Aarhus in Denmark.
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Americans in Mexico

Luis Bueno on his blog Sideline Views gives us a review of Round 4 action for our men in the FMF.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

Guatemala's roster:
G:
Luis Pedro Molina - Jalapa
Ricardo Trigueno - Petapa
D:
Gustavo Cabrera - Aarhus
Carlos Castrillo - Comunicaciones
Yony Flores - Marquense
Carlos Gallardo - Comunicaciones
Cristian Noriega - Municipal
Luis Rodriguez - Xelaju
Jaime Vides - Municipal
M:
Jose Contreras - Arsenal de Sarandi
Fredy Garcia - Municipal
Jean Marquez - Comunicaciones
Pando Ramirez - Municipal
Mario Rodriguez - Municipal
Gonzalo Romero - Municipal
Fredy Thompson - no club
Abner Trigueros - Comunicaciones
F:
Dwight Pezzarossi - Comunicaciones
Carlos Ruiz - Los Angeles Galaxy
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Canada & CSA News

Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail blog On Soccer looks ahead to Canada v Jamaica tomorrow night.
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Larry Millson also of the Globe & Mail reports that Houston midfielder extraordinaire Dwayne DeRosario has a cousin who just won a bronze medal in the Olympic hurdles!!
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Young forward Will Johnson has left Heerenveen a resigned with MLS. His rights are controlled by Chicago, but they are expected to move him.
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Olympic Soccer News

FIFA's Olympic News Site
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Olympic Soccer Scoreboard

Men's Semifinal Matches & Scores:
-Tue Aug 19
Nigeria 4-1 Belgium
Argentina 3-0 Brazil
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Men's Final Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 23
Nigeria v Argentina
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Women's Final Match & Score:
-Thu Aug 21
Brazil v USA
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European News

GERMANY

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian says new Bayern Munich coach Juergen Klinsmann talked big before opening weekend, but his team failed to deliver. While the rest of the Bundesliga really delivered on opening weekend though!