Sleep Amongst The Sheep News

LA coach Bruce Arena: "In the last five years of this league the L.A. Galaxy have the least amount of points of any team." See Nick Green's article in the Los Angeles Galaxy section.

~and~

Contributing more fuel to my theory that soccer is the Sport Of The Internet in America, Jack Bell of the New York Times sites this stat in his Extra Time column today: "According to an analysis of more than 100 million blogs, message boards, and postings on social Web sites performed with Zeta Interactive’s RelevantNoise software technology, MLS was third worldwide in the total volume of soccer posts, at 16 percent. MLS followed the English Premier League (42 percent) and Italy’s Serie A (27 percent)."


CONCACAF Champions League News

Official CCL website
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matchday 3 Matches & Scores:
-Tue Sep 30
Saprissa v Marathon
UNAM v Houston - 9pm central on FSC
-Wed Oct 1
DC v Cruz Azul - 7pm central on FSC
Firpo v San Francisco
Olimpia v Montreal - 9pm central on FSC
Municipal v Puerto Rico - 12midnight central on FSC
-Thu Oct 2
Tauro v Santos Laguna - 7pm central on Galavision
Atlante v Joe Public - 9pm central on FSC
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle looks at who we might see in the Dynamo's starting line up tonight.
-More notes from Fallas on his blog Soccer y Futbol.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis also of the Chronicle thinks we may see different tactics from the Orange as well.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated tells us what he thinks about the CCL so far.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Scoreboard

Week 28
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 2
Dallas v San Jose - 8pm central on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

COLORADO RAPIDS

I just watched the highlights from the Raps win over the Bulls last Saturday night AGAIN. What a great game from start to finish! My vote for game of the year so far. Now, you can argue that there were defensive errors galore, but I still loved it. And goal #2 from Conor Casey was pure determination, while his 3rd was glorious.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I got a lot of crap from readers a month ago for saying Conor Casey deserved a look from the USA national team again, but George Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News blog FC Rocky makes my case for me today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You just can't say enough about this team since Gary Smith became head coach. Wow. I didn't know if they had it in em. They have some serious work ahead though to secure a playoff spot.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch gives us more on the potential deal for new investors to buy part of the Crew.
-Mitchell has more notes on his blog Covering The Crew.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

The teams blog, Behind the Badge, has a picture today of midfielder Marcello Gallardo back in DC and at practice. This is a good sign
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Bob Luder of the Star with an article on goalkeeper Kevin Hartman who has just released his first children’s book.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

The hilarious crew of Martin Fernandez, Mike Martin & Chris Webb of the United Mania podcast have taken to calling keeper Josh Wicks - Lieutenant Warf, from Star Trek fame. Pure genius!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze says that the Galaxy and Chivas USA are currently headed in opposite directions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Green on his blog 100 Percent Soccer tells us about the sense of doom in Galaxyland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card talks to former Fire head coach and current Galaxy assistant Dave Sarachen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Oh yeah! Rev's TV announcers Brad Feldman & Greg Lalas got smoked by pies during their broadcast Saturday. See the glorious video here. Isn't it something all fans would love to do to announcers?!?!?! From the official New England blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This is not a new article, but it does show another reason why teams like the Revs have struggled in the past couple of months (Since winning Super Liga really). They have no time to practice as a team. So how do you find any cohesion when you are in that situation. Yes this is a propaganda piece but it does not go without merit. (thanks a ton to Andrew for sending this link my way, and for making his point so well in the email.) Also from the teams blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Brian Lewis of the NY Post on his blog Extra Times reports that Dave Van Den Bergh has returned to practice after hernia surgery, but its not known when he will be ready to play. A Dane Richards knee injury update too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer looks at the Bulls tough road to the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Red Bull Reader has 6 news photos of stadium construction! It's just too bad that these pictures are so small.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

Steve Pastorino at the US National Soccer Player Association looks that the revenue being generated by RSL through corporate sponsorship, and now stadium naming rights. He is impressed. Pastorino is the team former general manager, who still lives in SLC.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Toronto need goals desperately, and yet they gave up on forwards Jeff Cunningham, Alecko Eskandarian and Edson Buddle, who have combined to score 22 this season since they were shipped out of TFC. While the entire team has scored just 26 all year. Um, Mo? What are you doing?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ryan Johnston of Sportsnet in Canada says TFC players are now fighting for their jobs because there will be another expansion draft right after this season ends, and only so many names can be protected.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dean McNulty of the Sun points out that TFC can still qualify for the playoffs, as unlikely as that may seem.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Colorado forward Conor Casey was named Player Of The Week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pat Walsh at Goal.com tells us about his fave defensive midfielders in the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated makes his argument for a higher level of pay in MLS. I can agree with that 100%. But then he ruins it by using a hack like John Ball as an example. I have seen Ball play dozens of times over during this decade, and the most I ever saw him do was make cheap fouls and complain to referees. Good story, poor example.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ian Plenderleith at When Saturday Comes says MLS needs some big loud and cocky teams for all the others to really hate.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Coaching Hot Seat

If the season ended today I think that John Carver of Toronto, Curt Onalfo of Kansas City and Tom Soehn of DC would have to be feeling warmth in the backside of their trousers. Go ahead, make the joke.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rookie Of The Year

Can the award go to no one this year, please?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Young Player Of The Year - 22 Or Under

Our list of the candidates:
Eddie Gaven
Michael Harrington
Kenny Mansally
Sainey Nyassi
Robbie Rogers
Marvell Wynne
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Golden Boot

The top goal getters:
19 Landon Donovan
15 Kenny Cooper
13 Edson Buddle
11 Luciano Emilio
11 Juan Pablo Angel
10 Jaime Moreno
10 Brian Ching
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

The league has announced their All-League first and second teams. 22 players in all.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You have probably heard that the Tampa Bay Rowdies will reform and start play in the USL-1 in 2010. Late last week they showed us their new badge. It looks great.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Minnesota Thunder

Left winger Stephen de Roux was named first team All-League, and midfielder Ricardo Sanchez was named second team All-League.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Playoff Schedule

Semifinal 1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Fri Oct 3
Rochester v Puerto Rico
Montreal v Vancouver
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Semifinal 2nd leg Matches & Scores:
-Sun Oct 5
Puerto Rico v Rochester
Vancouver v Montreal - live at 5:30pm central time on FSC
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 News

Soccer America talks to one of the few college players to have an impact with the U-20 team - forward Andre Akpan from Harvard.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

UPCOMING MATCHES

UEFA Cup First Round 2nd leg:
-Bryan Arguez - Hertha Berlin Tue Sep 30 at Saint Patrick's Athletic leading 2-0
-Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes Thu Oct 2 at Twente leading 2-1
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa Thu Oct 2 v Litex Lovech leading 3-1
-Ryan Guy - Saint Patrick's Athletic Tue Sep 30 v Hertha Berlin trailing 0-2
-Brad Guzan - Aston Villa Thu Oct 2 v Litex Lovech leading 3-1
-Kamani Hill - Wolfsburg Tue Oct 2 at Rapid Bucuresti leading 1-0
-Tim Howard - Everton Tue Oct 2 at Standard Liege tied 2-2
-Jared Jeffrey - Club Brugge Tue Oct 2 v Young Boys tied 2-2
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard Liege Tue Oct 2 v Everton tied 2-2
-Neven Subotic - Borussia DortmundTue Oct 2 at Udinese trailing 0-2.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Canada & CSA News

Jason de Vos of the CBC gives praise to the huge season the Montreal Impact is having in both league, Canada & CONCACAF play.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The National Post feels that even if Toronto FC, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps all had great seasons, the game of soccer still needs the national team to succeed for the game to really take hold in Canada.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

FIFA.com does the Q & A with Mexicoach Sven Goren Montgomery Burns Eriksson.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South American News

ESPN Soccernet with a story on River Plates great young midfielder Diego Bounanotte.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune wonders if the big English teams are about to fall under the same financial insanity as Wall Street.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Telegraph has already labeled Tottenham's Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko a flop. Come on! The season is 6 games old, and they guy has not had a break since last winter.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Samuel of the Times seems to get what is going on at Tottenham.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Samuel also looks at the nasty tackles that are not being taken seriously enough.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

GERMANY

Bild tells us the 5 things Juergen Klinsmann has gotten wrong at Bayern Munich.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian looks at the crumbling scene unfolding in Munich. And it's not all on the field either.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Deutsche Welle reports that Hertha Berlin are looking into finding a new home stadium. They have played in the Olympic Stadium since it opened in 1936.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Bundesliga website has a slideshow featuring all of their teams mascots! Hilarious!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ITALY

Football Italia with a wrap up of Round 5 in Serie A.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Star defender Alessandro Nesta had his first full practice session of the season with Milan today. He would be a huge addition for them in the back.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SPAIN

Sid Lowe of the Guardian checks out the Catalan derby and the rest of the past week in La Liga.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

OTHERS

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian calls Cluj the Chelsea of Romania.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League

Group Stage - Matchday 2
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Sep 30
Aalborg v Manchester United - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Villarreal v Celtic
Fiorentina v Steaua Bucuresti
Bayern Munich v Lyon - delayed at 6:30pm central on Setanta
Arsenal v Porto - live at 1:45pm central on Setanta
Fenerbahce v Dynamo Kyiv - delayed at 4:40pm central on Setanta
BATE Borisov v Juventus
Zenit St Petersburg v Real Madrid - delayed at 4pm on ESPN Classic
-Wed Oct 1
CFR Cluj v Chelsea - live at 1pm central on Setanta
Bordeaux v Roma
Anorthosis Famagusta v Panathinaikos - delayed at 4:40pm central on Setanta
Inter Milan v Werder Bremen
Sporting v Basel - delayed at 6:30pm central on Setanta
Shakhtar Donetsk v Barcelona - delayed at 4pm on ESPN Classic
Liverpool v PSV Eindhoven - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Atletico Madrid v Olympique Marseille
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian reports that Man U were greeted in Aalborg as conquering heroes when they arrived yesterday for the CL match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Observer talks to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger who argues against the "away goals rule" in European football.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup

Next year this tournament will be re-titled the Europa League, and will feature more teams and more games. Ugh.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2nd leg matches will be played Sep 30 & Oct 2. With the winners will advancing to the Group Stage.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times takes us back to 32 years ago last week: Ronaldo, Ballack, Totti & Shevchenko were all born in those 7 days.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here is an interesting story from Newseurasia about how Uzbekistan wants help from their government to keep up with the countries flooded by new oil money and get into the big time football game themselves. (thanks to Kirk for this link)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This Is The End

One of the many great things about my weekend spent in Milwaukee was hanging out with several fellow futbol fanaticos! Peter Wilt of the Chicago Red Stars, and his great blog. Writer Tom Dunmore of Pitch Invasion. And Kenn Tomasch of TV play by play fame and his blog kenn.com. What a great time I had. My luck is definitely running high these days.

Waterloo Reenactment News

It was a wild ending but my team the Minnesota Thunder were elimindated 5-4 by Vancouver in the first round of the USL-1 playoffs last night. Damn it all. See details in the USL-1 section.

~and~

A big shout out to the fantastic Highbury pub in Milwaukee, where I spent a great Saturday morning. Thanks to all the friends I saw & met, old & new, and everyone who works there, for the hospitality (Joe & Craig!).

~and~

From Steven Goff's blog (the best in the business) Soccer Insider: "Los Angeles and DCU have conceded a combined 100 goals." Holy Salvia Batgirl!

~and~

Welcome to Rio Tinto Stadium. See the Real Salt Lake section for details.


CONCACAF Champions League News

Official CCL website
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matchday 3 Matches & Scores:
-Tue Sep 30
Saprissa v Marathon
UNAM v Houston - 9pm central on FSC
-Wed Oct 1
DC v Cruz Azul - 7pm central on FSC
Firpo v San Francisco
Olimpia v Montreal - 9pm central on FSC
Municipal v Puerto Rico - 12midnight central on FSC
-Thu Oct 2
Tauro v Santos Laguna - 7pm central on Galavision
Atlante v Joe Public - 9pm central on FSC
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Scoreboard

Week 27
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Sep 25
Chicago 3-1 Los Angeles - CF goals by Chris Rolfe(2) & Cuauhtemoc Blanco. LAG goal by Eddie Lewis.
Attendance: 20,156
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview IL
-Sat Sep 27
Toronto 1-1 Houston - TFC goal by Marvell Wynne. HD goal by Hunter Freeman(OG).
Attendance: 20,074
Venue: BMO Field, Toronto ON
Match report by Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail.
Match report from the Toronto Star.
Match report by Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun.
Post game analysis by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Post game analysis from the Toronto Sun.
Post game notes & Houston player ratings by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on his blog Soccer y Futbol.
New York 4-5 Colorado - NYRB goals by Mike Magee, Juan Pablo Angel(PK), Dane Richards & Matthew Mbuta. CR goals by Omar Cummings, Conor Casey(3 - one via PK) & Mike Petke.
Attendance: 14,795
Venue: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
Match report by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Match report by Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
Match report by Brian Lewis of the NY Post.
Post game analysis by Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives.
Post game notes & NYRB player ratings by Jack Bell of the New York Times on their blog Goal.
Post game notes by Lewis of the NY Post on his blog Extra Time.
Chivas 2-1 Kansas City - CUSA goals by Alecko Eskandarain & Sasha Victorine. KCW goal by Josh Wolff.
Attendance: 14,783
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match report by Phil Collin of the LA Daily News.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report from the KC Star.
New England 0-1 Columbus - CC goal by Chad Marshall.
Attendance: 15,035
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
Match report by Monique Walker of the Boston Globe.
Match report by Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald.
Post game notes by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
More post game notes from Mitchell on his blog Covering the Crew.
San Jose 2-3 Salt Lake - SJE goals both by Darren Huckerby. RSL goals by Yura Movsisyan(2) & Javier Morales.
Attendance: 10,059
Venue: Buck Shaw Field, Santa Clara CA
Match report from the San Jose Mercury News.
Match report by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match report from the Deseret News.
Match report by Embele Awipi of Center Line Soccer.
Player grades for RSL from the Deseret's RSL Blog.
-Sun Sep 28
Dallas 3-0 DC - FCD goals by Andre Rocha, Jeff Cunningham & Kenny Cooper.
Attendance: 12,138
Venue: Pizza Hut Park, Frisco TX
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match report by Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Post game notes & DCU player ratings by Goff on his blog Soccer Insider.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ejections:
-Frankie Hejduk - Columbus - 2 Yellow Cards
-Jaime Moreno - DC - Red Card
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CD CHIVAS USA

I am not at all surprised that coach Preki, a former star for the Kansas City Wizards, had all three of his teams former Wizards players (and his teammates), Shavar Thomas, Alex Zotinca & Sasha Victorine in the lineup on Saturday against their old team, and that they delivered a big win.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com says CUSA fans have a second Sasha to love - Victorine.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Defender Zotinca made his season debut for the team after sitting out a long time with a knee injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Ives Galarcep on Soccer by Ives with an article on a report that the investor group from Vegas that is interested in an MLS team is very close to buying a chunk of the Crew. What does it all mean?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In a true sign of a champion, the Crew won on the road against their biggest challenger New England despite playing the last 35 minutes a man down after Frankie Hejduk was sent packing for his second Yellow Card.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Coach Sigi Schmid was ejected in the dying seconds of the game for arguing with the referee. Who knows what he might have said, but you can be sure it was not pretty.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chad Marshall scored against New England on a corner kick, when no one else had done that against the Rev's all season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

John Haydon of the Washington Times with an article on the teams recent signing Boyzzz Khumalo. (Story ran before Sunday's game.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Jeff Cunningham got career goal #104!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Brain Ching had two big chances to score in Toronto this weekend and put the first one straight up and over the bar from 6 yards out, and on the second he got a great leading pass which he decided to control rather than first time and got stripped without even taking a shot. Very poor on his part.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Houston has elected to rest Brad Davis & Brian Ching by not taking them to Mexico City for the CCL game on Tuesday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Josh Wolff - CHILENO!!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Forward Macoumba Kandji made his debut coming on as a second half sub for injured Dane Richards. Then in the 73rd minute he works a great give & go with fellow debutante Matthew Mbuta who scores a beautiful goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Apple Soccer reports that Richards had received a call up from the Jamaican national team before the game on Saturday, then hurt his knee during the game, leaving it all up in the air.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New York Times with a story on the building of Red Bull Arena in Harrison NJ.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

After choking away 3 points last week at home, the Salt shakers had to get 3 on the road in San Jose on Saturday and they did. Only their 2nd road win of the season. They are still in the playoff race.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal reports that copper mining company Rio Tinto has bought the stadium naming rights for RSL's new home in Sandy UT. The price is possibly $20 million for 10 years.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

The amount of teeth gnashing in the Toronto press is building in momentum. But one thing none of these people pointed out from day one of this season is that the teams #1 problem last season was the defense. And what did they do in the offseason or during this season to fix that problem? The answer is simple - NOTHING. End of story. Bring in all the forwards and midfielders you want, but if you have crap defense, then you have no chance of winning in the long run. NOTHING!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Right fullback Marvell Wynne scored his first ever league goal, and it was a beauty. He took a pass near midfield and cruised toward goal, put a great move on Dwayne De Rosario and blooped a shot with his left foot from the top of the box perfectly over Pat Onstad for the goal! Great stuff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Steve Davis at ESPN Soccernet with 10 things to note from Week 27.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider with his weekly review, The Good, The Bad and The Coyote Ugly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com with his breakdown of the week that was.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of ESPN Soccernet looks at the biggest players trades in the league this season, and tells us who got the best deals.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I think we can easily call this one early and give the official Player of The Week award to Colorado forward Conor Casey who scored 3 in a huge 4-5 road win against New York.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Minnesota Thunder

The season is now over losing 4-5 to Vancouver in the 2 legged playoff series. Damn. They made a valiant effort, but giving up a bad late goal in game one, and then 3 in game two made it almost impossible to pull off the upset. Ricardo Sanchez was sent off for arguing with the referee late in game two as well, which didnt help. So it's on to next year. Who will be the coach? And which players will return?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Playoff Schedule

Puerto Rico (1) - by finishing top of the table in the regular season (the Commissioners Cup) they get a First Round bye.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

First Round 1st Leg Matches & Scores (seed):
-Fri Sep 26
Rochester (4) 2-0 Charleston (5) - Roch goals by Steve Guppy & Matthew Delicate.
Vancouver (2) 2-0 Minnesota (7) - Van goals by Jonathan Greenfield(OG) & Justin Moose.
Seattle (6) 2-1 Montreal (3) - Sea goals by Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar & Leighton O'Brien(PK). Mon goal by Stefano Pesoli.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

First Round 2nd Leg Matches & Scores:
-Sun Sep 28
Montreal 3-1 Seattle - Mon goals by David Testo, rocco Placentino & Samuri Ribeiro. Sea goal by Facekicker Levesque.
Minnesota 4-3 Vancouver - Minn goals by Luchi Gonzalez, Melvin Tarley, Stephen de Roux & Fredrico Moojen(PK). Van goals by Alfredo Valente, Martin Nash & Eduardo Sebrango.
Charleston 1-0 Rochester - Char goal by Osvaldo Alonso.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Second Round 1st leg Matches & Scores:
Puerto Rico - first round bye v Rochester - advanced 2-1 on aggregate
Vancouver - advanced 5-4 on aggregate v Montreal - advanced 3-2 on aggregate
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Team USA

Expect the roster for the next two World Cup qualifiers to be announced at the end of the week, and training camp to start at the end of the weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 11
USA v Cuba - 3pm central at RFK Stadium, Washington DC
-Wed Oct 15
Trinidad & Tobago - 7pm central at Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

Ives Galarcep at ESPN Soccernet pimps Tim Howard for the Honda Player Of The Year award.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Ravi Ubha at ESPN Soccernet gives us some insight into the growth of Charlie Davies this season at Hammarby!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jen Cheng also of Soccernet looks on the other side, at the struggling Eddie Johnson who can't even make a wave at Cardiff right now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Forward Vincenzo Bernardo signed a long term deal with Napoli in Serie A last week. He has been playing in their reserves, but the club like him a lot and wanted to make it permanent. Fantastic for him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MOST RECENT MATCHES

French Ligue 1
-Freddy Adu - Monaco - came on as a 78th minute sub but lost at home 0-2 to Lille.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - played all 90 as they beat Nice 1-0 at home.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

French Ligue 2
-Quentin Westberg - Troyes - on the bench as they won 3-2 over Tours at home.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Spanish La Liga
-Jozy Altidore - Villarreal - was not on the bench as they beat Sporting Gijon 1-0 on the road.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scottish Premier League
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - did not dress as they won 0-3 at Hibernian.
-Maurice Edu - Rangers - did not dress as they won 0-3 at Hibernian.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

German Bundesliga 1
-Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - on the bench but did not play as they lost 1-0 at Hamburg.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the full match as usual and they pulled off a big 1-0 home win over Bayern Munich!
-Neven Subotic - Borussia Dortmund - played the entire 90 at centerback as they won 3-0 at home against Stuttgart.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

German Bundesliga 2
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - went the full 90 as they got a home draw 1-1 with Ingolstadt.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - entered the game in the 82nd minute as they won 2-0 at home against St Pauli.
-Matt Taylor - Koblenz - did not play as they lost 1-0 at Osnabruck.
-David Yelldell - Koblenz - in goal for the whole game but they lost 1-0 at Osnabruck.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Italian Serie B
-Danny Szetela - Brescia - at home against Parma on Monday
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dutch Erste Divisie
-Charles Kazlauskas - TOP Oss - went the full 90, got a Yellow Card, and drew 2-2 at Eindhoven.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Belgian Jupiler League
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - went the full 90 and beat Anderlecht 2-1 at home to take over 1st place.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Austrian Bundesliga
-Preston Zimmerman - Kapfenberg - went the distance but lost at Lask Linz 2-0.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English Premier League
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - on the bench but did not play as they lost 1-2 at home against West Ham.
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - played all 90 and won 2-1 at home over Sunderland.
-Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - on the bench for the 2-1 win over Sunderland.
-Tim Howard - Everton - went the full 90 as always but lost 0-2 to city rivals Liverpool.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English Championship Division
-Bobby Convey - Reading - did not make the game day roster as they team won 4-0 at home over Swansea.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - injured so he was not in uniform for his team as they lost 2-1 at Sheffield United.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - played the full match and won big, 4-0 at home over Swansea.
-Eddie Johnson - Cardiff - came on as a sub in the 76th minute but they lost 1-2 at home to Birmingham.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English League One
-Jemal Johnson - MK Dons - dressed but did not play as they lost 1-2 at home to Peterborough.
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - on the bench as they went to Swindon and won 1-2.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Danish Landspokal (League Cup) 3rd Round -
-Dan Califf - Midjtylland - play at Akademisk Boldklub on Monday
-Benny Feilhaber - Aarhus - out injured
-Floyd Franks - Blokhus - lost at home to Randers 0-2
-Tally Hall - Esbjerg - lost at Skive 2-1
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - won at Blokus 0-2
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - win 1-2 at Avarta
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Norwegian Tippeligaen:
-Troy Perkins - Valerenga - started as usual but lost 0-1 at home to Viking.
-Brian Waltrip - Molde - dress but did not play in a 4-0 loss at Stabaek.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Norwegian Adeccoligaen:
-Joe Lapira - Nybergsund - started and went 85 minutes, assisting on the last goal, in a 0-3 win at Bryne.
-Jay Needham - Alta - went all 90 as they lost 2-1 at Odd Grenland.
-Kyle Veris - Hodd - played the full match and they won 1-2 at Sandes Ulf.
-Cam Weaver - Haugesund - played all 90 minutes, assisted on the teams first goal and got a Yellow Card as they drew 2-2 at home against Start.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Swedish Allsvenskan:
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - in goal for a 0-1 home loss to Djurgardens.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - played all 90 minutes of a scorless home tie with Trelleborgs.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - played in midfield for the full 90, got a Yellow Card, and they lost to Djurgardens at home 0-1.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet reviews the group stage matches played so far.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

The top 5 Primera teams after 10 of 17 Rounds:
20 San Luis
19 Atlante
16 UNAM Pumas
15 Cruz Azul
15 UAdG Tecos
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Tottenham have just 2 points from their first 6 matches - oof!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Insider of ESPN Soccernet gives us a look at the Stoke v Chelsea match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arsenal got beat at home by Hull! Who saw that one coming?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Really cool story by Sean O'Conor of No Short Corners about a book written by an Englishman who played some "secret" games for Spartak Moscow back in the early 60's. Great stuff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GERMANY

Boo-hoo, Bayern Munich loses again in Bundesliga play - is Klinsi already in serious troubles?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ITALY

Is anyone impressed by what Jose Mourinho has done at Inter so far this season? I didn't think so.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SPAIN

Phil Ball at ESPN Soccernet with a look at the weekend in La Liga, and a little history on Sporting Gijon.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There were ugly scenes in the stands of Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys where Espanyol hosted their crosstown rivals Barcelona. Supposedly a banned Barca supporters gang threw flares at Espanyol fans, which caused the game to be stopped for while. The stadium will close at the end of this season with a new one ready to take it's place.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League

Group Stage - Matchday 2
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Sep 30
Aalborg v Manchester United - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Villarreal v Celtic
Fiorentina v Steaua Bucuresti
Bayern Munich v Lyon - delayed at 6:30pm central on Setanta
Arsenal v Porto - live at 1:45pm central on Setanta
Fenerbahce v Dynamo Kyiv - delayed at 4:40pm central on Setanta
BATE Borisov v Juventus
Zenit St Petersburg v Real Madrid - delayed at 4pm on ESPN Classic
-Wed Oct 1
CFR Cluj v Chelsea - live at 1pm central on Setanta
Bordeaux v Roma
Anorthosis Famagusta v Panathinaikos - delayed at 4:40pm central on Setanta
Inter Milan v Werder Bremen
Sporting v Basel - delayed at 6:30pm central on Setanta
Shakhtar Donetsk v Barcelona - delayed at 4pm on ESPN Classic
Liverpool v PSV Eindhoven - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Atletico Madrid v Olympique Marseille
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup

2nd leg matches will be played Sep 30 & Oct 2. With the winners advancing to the Group Stage.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Club Matches This Week

Serie A
-Sun Sep 28
Inter 0-1 Milan - Ronaldinho scores the only goal in the derby della Madonnina.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Premiership
-Sat Sep 27
Everton 0-2 Liverpool - an ugly outing for the blue side of the Merseyside derby.
Fulham 1-2 West Ham - another in the nearly endless string of London derbies, with East End beating West End.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jupiler League
-Fri Sep 26
Standard Liege 2-1 Anderlecht - the battle for early season supremacy in Belgium between the top 2.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Portugese Liga
-Sat Sep 27
Benfica 2-0 Sporting - the home team wins again in one of "The Big Three" derbies.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

La Liga
-Sat Sep 27
Espanyol 1-2 Barcelona - the big boys get the win in the Catalan derby.
-Sun Sep 28
Atletico Madrid 0-1 Sevilla - Sevilla won the war of the challengers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS
-Sat Sep 27
New England 0-1 Columbus - the perenial Eastern power lose more ground to the league leading upstarts.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

La Primera
-Sat Sep 27
Atlas 0-1 Guadalajara - the big team wins the second city derby.
-Sun Sep 28
America 2-0 Cruz Azul - a much needed win for America in one of two huge Mexico City derbies.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brasileiro
-Sun Sep 28
Sao Paulo 2-0 Cruzeiro - with the win SP jumps up to #3 while Cruz drops to #5.
Botafogo 1-1 Fluminense - a draw in a big Rio derby.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Warner/Sepp Blatter/FIFA Idiocy & Scandal News

Andrew Jennings in the Sunday Herald of Scotland unearths a big fiancial hoo-ha surrounding the newest member of Sepp's World Cup Committee. Australian billionaire Frank Lowy is under investigation all over the world, including the USA for tax evasion, money laundering, fraud and many other lovely crimes, while at the same time he was just named to Sepp's committee. AND he just so happens to be in charge of Australia's bid to host the 2018 World Cup! The number of hands in the number of cookie jars is amazing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Why is digging up dirt on these guys so easy, but getting them out of power almost impossible?

Moore, Mary Tyler News

I am heading off to Milwaukee this weekend for a family outing. And I will be at the Highbury Pub on Saturday morning seeing some friends. So come on down and rock with us.


MLS Scoreboard

Week 27
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Sep 25
Chicago 3-1 Los Angeles - CF goals by Chris Rolfe(2) & Cuauhtemoc Blanco. LAG goal by Eddie Lewis.
Attendance: 20,156
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview IL
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match report by Nick Fircau of the Chicago Sun Times.
Post game notes by Arroyave on his blog The Red Card.
-Sat Sep 27
Toronto v Houston - 2:30pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: BMO Field, Toronto ON
New England v Columbus - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
New York v Colorado - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
San Jose v Salt Lake - 9pm central on HDNet
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara CA
Chivas v Kansas City - 9:30pm central on FSC
Venue: Home Deport Center, Carson CA
-Sun Sep 28
Dallas v DC - 2pm central on TeleFutura
Venue: Pizza Hut Park, Frisco TX
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Playoff Schedule

First Round 1st Leg Matches & Scores (seed):
-Fri Sep 26
Rochester (4) v Charleston (5) - 6:30pm central
Vancouver (2) v Minnesota (7) - 9pm central
Seattle (6) v Montreal (3) - 9pm central
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

First Round 2nd Leg Matches & Scores:
-Sun Sep 28
Montreal v Seattle - 4pm central
Minnesota v Vancouver - 5pm central
Charleston v Rochester - 6pm central on FSC
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF Champions League News

Official CCL website
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matchday 2 Matches & Scores:
-Tue Sep 23
San Francisco 0-0 Houston Dynamo
Puerto Rico Islanders 3-1 Santos Laguna - PRI goals by Osei Telesford, Noah Delgado & Edwin Miranda. SL goal by Christian Benitez.
Cruz Azul 4-0 Saprissa - CA goals by Miguel Sabah, Gerardo Torrado, Pablo Zeballos &
Christian Riveros.
-Wed Sep 24
Joe Public 1-3 Olimpia - JP goal by Gregory Richardson. Oli goals by Ramiro Burschi(2) & Henry Thomas.
Impact de Montreal 0-0 Atlante
UNAM Pumas 3-0 Luis Angel Firpo - UNAM goals by David Cabrera(2) & Orlando Pineda.
Marathon 2-0 DC United - Mara goals by Milton Nunez & Erick Norales.
-Thu Sep 25
Tauro 2-1 Municipal - Tau goals both by Burnette Hay. Muni goal by Pando Ramirez.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Club Matches This Week

Serie A
-Sun Sep 28
Inter v Milan - the derby della Madonnina
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Premiership
-Sat Sep 27
Everton v Liverpool - the Merseyside derby
Fulham v West Ham - another in the nearly endless string of London derbies
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jupiler League
-Fri Sep 26
Standard Liege v Anderlecht - the battle for early season supremacy in Belgium between the top 2.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Portugese Liga
-Sat Sep 27
Benfica v Sporting - one of The Big Three derbies
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

La Liga
-Sun Sep 28
Atletico Madrid v Sevilla - two of the serious challengers
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS
-Sat Sep 27
New England v Columbus - the perenial Eastern power hosts the league leading upstarts
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

La Primera
-Sat Sep 27
Atlas v Guadalajara - a second city derby
-Sun Sep 28
America v Cruz Azul - one of two huge Mexico City derbies
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brasileiro
-Sun Sep 28
Sao Paulo v Cruzeiro - #4 v #3
Botafogo v Fluminense - a big Rio derby

Catastrophic Calliope News

CONCACAF Champions League News

Official CCL website
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matchday 2 Matches & Scores:
-Tue Sep 23
San Francisco 0-0 Houston Dynamo
Puerto Rico Islanders 3-1 Santos Laguna - PRI goals by Osei Telesford, Noah Delgado & Edwin Miranda. SL goal by Christian Benitez.
Cruz Azul 4-0 Saprissa - CA goals by Miguel Sabah, Gerardo Torrado, Pablo Zeballos &
Christian Riveros.
-Wed Sep 24
Joe Public 1-3 Olimpia - JP goal by Gregory Richardson. Oli goals by Ramiro Burschi(2) & Henry Thomas.
Impact de Montreal 0-0 Atlante
Match report from the Montreal Gazette.
UNAM Pumas 3-0 Luis Angel Firpo - UNAM goals by David Cabrera(2) & Orlando Pineda.
Marathon 2-0 DC United - Mara goals by Milton Nunez & Erick Norales.
Match report Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Post game notes & DCU player ratings by Goff on his blog Soccer Insider.
Post game quotes by DCU coach & players from Behind The Badge.
-Thu Sep 25
Tauro v Municipal - live at 7pm central on Galavision
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Scoreboard

Week 27
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Sep 25
Chicago v Los Angeles - 8pm central on ESPN2
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview IL
Match preview by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match preview by Nick Firchau of the Chicago Sun Times. He says everything about LA is "drama"!
Match preview by Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Tribune on his blog The Red Card reminds us that John Thorrington spoiled LA's party last year. Will he do it again tonight?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arroyave also asks Landon Donovan what he thinks of Cuauhtemoc Blanco these days.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Buzz Carrick at 3rd Degree with this weeks Practice Observations.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com talks to keeper Dario Sala about today and tomorrow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

It's gonna be DDR all day every day at DwayneDeRosario.com.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Chronicle goes ahead and hands out his season awards already. Now why on earth would you do that with 5 rounds left before the playoffs? No idea.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis rightly pointed out that the only thing on the minds of Houston city officials is recovery from the hurricane. Not stadium talk.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The team is going to use their next 3 home games to contribute to hurricane relief efforts in several ways.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Goal.com talks to coach Steve Nicol about the Liverpool-Everton derby this weekend, his job with the Revolution, and if he has a future as a coach in England or Scotland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer says coach Juan Carlos Osorio is still trying to figure out the best spot on the field for Jorge Rojas. I think he knows its in the center of midfield attacking the goal but is still trying to get his 11 best players all on the field at once.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Defender Kevin Goldthwaite writes a column on the teams blog - Red Bull Reader - in which he reviews the movie Vicki Cristina Barcelona! I enjoy a nice dose of this kind of stupidity once in a while.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com with an article on a healthy Mike Magee.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

On the teams blog they have video footage from the first day of training at the new stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

The Eastern Daily Press of Norfolk England with an article on Darren Huckerby's MLS season so far. One word: excitement. But you already knew that.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Coach John Carver was kicked out of last weekends game by the referee and will subsequently not be on the sideline this weekend v Houston.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

The US National Soccer Players Association has a list of 11 things the league needs to address. This is a pretty good list.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA Today looks at a report on the diversity of MLS teams, staffs and front offices. Things are improving.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle looks at the playoff race in the Eastern conference.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Exhibition Matches

Rio Grande Plate
-Tue Oct 14
FC Dallas v UANL Tigres (Mexico) - this is the 2nd leg of this years battle for the Plate. Tigres won their home leg 2-1.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Expansion News

The Seattle Times with an article on the current Sounders players who are looking forward to getting a shot at MLS next year. Attacking players all over MLS are licking their chops at the thought of centerback Taylor Graham coming back into the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Our friend Brian Quardstad is the guest on this weeks Major League Soccer Talk podcast with Kartik Krishnaiyer. They talk USL-1 playoffs!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ESPN Soccernet previews the 3 playoff series.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Playoff Schedule

First Round 1st Leg Matches & Scores (seed):
-Fri Sep 26
Rochester (4) v Charleston (5) - 6:30pm central
Vancouver (2) v Minnesota (7) - 9pm central
Seattle (6) v Montreal (3) - 9pm central
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

First Round 2nd Leg Matches & Scores:
-Sun Sep 28
Montreal v Seattle - 4pm central
Minnesota v Vancouver - 5pm central
Charleston v Rochester - 6pm central on FSC
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U17 News

ESPN Soccernet looks at another of the young talents in the USA residency program in Bradenton FL - Joseph Gyau.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

Soccerlens looks at the difference in youth training between the USA and Germany.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Yanks Abroad talks to Jeremiah White about the slow but continued success of his club Aarhus in Denmark.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Seltzer at Soccer 365 talks to White's teammate Benny Feilhaber about the extent of his knee injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com talks to El Guzano about his first time guarding the Aston Villa net.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MOST RECENT MATCHES

Swedish Allsvenskan
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - in the goal for a 0-0 tie at Goteborg. Not bad at all.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - did not dress as they drew 0-0 at Goteborg.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DFB Pokal - German League Cup
-Bryan Arguez - Hertha Berlin - did not suit up as they lost 2-1 at Dortmund.
-Kamani Hill - Wolfsburg - was not in uniform as they won 0-7 at Oberneuland.
-Neven Subotic - Borussia Dortmund - went the full 90 and won 2-1 at home over Hertha Berlin.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English Carling Cup
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - was on the bench as they lost 0-1 at home to Queen's Park Rangers.
-Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - got his first start but lost 0-1 at home to Queen's Park Rangers.
-Tim Howard - Everton - played the full 90 but lost 1-0 at Blackburn.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

French League Cup
-Freddy Adu - Monaco -got his first start and went 77 minutes but they lost 0-1 at home to Paris St Germain.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - did not dress for the game as the team drew 2-2 at home against Le Mans and advance 4-3 on PK's.
-Andrew Jacobson - Lorient - still out injured as they lost at home 0-3 to Lens.
-Quinten Westberg - Troyes - played the full 90 in goal and lost at Metz 3-1.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Spanish La Liga
-Jozy Altidore - Villarreal - did not dress for a 2-0 home win over Racing Santander.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Austrian Bundesliga
-Preston Zimmerman - Kapfenberg - came on as a half time sub but they lost at home 0-2 to Karnten.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scottish League Cup
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - came on as a 72nd minute sub in a 1-2 win at Partick.
-Maurice Edu - Rangers - on the bench but did not play as they won 1-2 at Partick.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Canada & CSA News

Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail bog On Soccer looks at the fortunes of both Toronto FC and Montreal Impact since the night in late July when Montreal advanced to the CONCACAF Champions League over TFC.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

Friendly Match & Score:
-Wed Sep 24
Mexico 0-1 Chile - in Los Angeles - Chil goal by Juan Carlos Valenzuela(OG).
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Sport Magazine has a Q & A with Wayne Rooney.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times blog Goal talks to Tom Glick who is part of the American group that bought English team Derby County early this year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

FRANCE

Lyon's brilliant leader Juninho Pernambucanos suffered a groin strain and will be out a couple of weeks, including the Champions League Matchday 2 next week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ITALY

Argentine forward Diego Milito is off to a great start back in Genoa. He had been at Real Zaragoza in Spain. He has 4 goals in 4 games. Excellent.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Football Italia reviews Week 4 of Serie A matches. Inter take over at #1. And in pictures.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian looks at yesterday's round of matches in Serie A.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gazzetta report that Andriy Shevchenko will get the start up top for AC in the Milan derby on Sunday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Why not get your picture taken with a shirt with a giant number on it when you hit a milestone for games played.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

OTHERS

Croatia has been fined the equivilent of $28,000 and warned sternly about future actions by FIFA after being found guilty of racist behavior from fans in their game earlier this month against England. This is of course a total joke, because back in June they were charged and found to be guilty of the same thing during the match against Turkey at Euro 08. Then they were fined $18,000. I doubt very much that a bump of $9000 is going to mean very much.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA News

The 2012 UEFA Euro Championship will expand from 16 teams to 24 teams.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

Greg Seltzer of No Short Corners gives us his thoughts on who the worlds top goalkeepers will be in the next decade.

Realise The Growth Potential News

While the USL-1 boys from Puerto Rico were huge in thumping Mexican's Santos Laguna 3-1 in the CONCACAF Champions League, yet another MLS team, Houston, stumbled, only getting a draw 0-0 at a very weak San Francisco team down in Panama. Houston should have stuffed them, and yet they barely mounted a real threat.

~and~

Are you a web-tech geek who wants to work for a soccer club - contact DC United. They want to build the best website ever.


CONCACAF Champions League News

Official CCL website
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matchday 2 Matches & Scores:
-Tue Sep 23
San Francisco 0-0 Houston Dynamo
Pre, In & Post game notes by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on his blog Soccer y Futbol.
Puerto Rico Islanders 3-1 Santos Laguna - PRI goals by Osei Telesford, Noah Delgado & Edwin Miranda. SL goal by Christian Benitez.
Cruz Azul 4-0 Saprissa - CA goals by Miguel Sabah, Gerardo Torrado, Pablo Zeballos &
Christian Riveros.
-Wed Sep 24
Joe Public v Olimpia - live at 7pm central on FSC
Impact de Montreal v Atlante - live at 7pm on TeleFutura
UNAM Pumas v Luis Angel Firpo - live at 9pm on TeleFutura
Marathon v DC United - live at 9pm central on FSC
Match preview by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Match preview by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
-Thu Sep 25
Tauro v Municipal - live at 7pm central on Galavision
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some photos of the stadium etc in Honduras from the DCU Staff. Thanks to Kyle for the link.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Houston v Firpo game that was postponed from Matchday 1 due to damage from Hurricane Ike has been rescheduled to Wed Nov. 26.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Scoreboard

Week 27
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Sep 25
Chicago v Los Angeles - 8pm central on ESPN2
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview IL
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Tribune on his blog The Red Card says forward Patrick Nyarko is going to be ready to return early from his knee injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch looks at the teams clinching of a playoff spot. And gives us an update on the Guillermo Barros Schelotto injury, which sounds worse then we have been lead to believe.
-But then on his blog Covering The Crew Mitchell says technically the Crew can be eliminated from the playoffs still. Huh? And other team notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

FIFA.com gives us a cliffs notes history of DCU.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports says KCW technical director Peter Vermes is hot property around the league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

The Deseret News with an article on RSL team president Bill Manning. At one time he was the general manager of my team, the Minnesota Thunder.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The DNews also has photos from the first day the team practiced at the new stadium, yesterday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Elliot Almond of the Mercury News says the Equakes can't wait to get their hands on RSL, who have the worst road record in the league, at home this weekend. With a win and certain other teams not winning the team could climb to 2nd place by Sunday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Dean McNulty of the Sun reports that coach John Carver says he should be fired if the team doesn't improve in the last 5 games of the season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morgan Campbell of the Star says Carver is commanding his players to give a lot more then they have been.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nigel Reed of the CBC says the teams growth from year 1 to 2 has been slow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

A couple hundred people from all the teams in the league, and their many business partners, are in Chicago attending the 2008 MLS Business Summit.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beau Dure of USA Today on his blog The Netminder gives us Part 2 of his ideas to improve the league - focus on the scheduling.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at MLSnet sizes up teams run for the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Richard Snowden at Soccer365 on AEG, designated players, money grabs, the future, cool summer breezes and much much more.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Hush of ESPN Soccernet with his weekly league notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

The Barbados Nation News reports that Joe Public forward Gregory Richardson, the guy who torched the Revs, is being chased by Columbus, New England and San Jose.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Stadium Talk

Marc Fisher of the Washington Post with more on the latest DC stadium talk.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Washington Times with a look at the stadium proposal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Minnesota Thunder

Burnaby Now previews the Minnesota v Vancouver series, from a BC point of view.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

Orrin Schwarz of Chicago's Daily Herald rips into US Soccer for doing such a terrible job marketing our Men's & Women's national team games in Chicago this month. The men drew under 12,000 for a World Cup qualifier against Trinidad & Tobago and the Women drew under 6000 celebrating their Olympic gold medal v Ireland. Both games were at Toyota Park. An even bigger reason that US Soccer should be embarrassed is that the games were held in the city where their offices are. I bet most soccer fans don't know that either.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Paul Kennedy looks at Freddy Adu's situation at Monaco. He is getting about the same amount of playing time as he had at Benfica last year - little to none. So what is going on?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TRANSFER RUMORS

Celtic has made a bid for goalkeeper Dominic Cervi, who turned down a deal with the Chicago Fire earlier this spring, and is still teamless.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UPCOMING MATCHES

Swedish Allsvenskan:
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - play at Goteborg on Wednesday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DFB Pokal - German League Cup
-Bryan Arguez - Hertha Berlin - on Wednesday at Dortmund
-Kamani Hill - Wolfsburg - on Wednesday at Oberneuland
-Neven Subotic - Borussia Dortmund - on Wednesday home against Hertha
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English Carling Cup
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - Wednesday at home v Queen's Park Rangers
-Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - Wednesday at home v Queen's Park Rangers
-Tim Howard - Everton - Wednesday at Blackburn
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MOST RECENT MATCHES

DFB Pokal - German League Cup
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - started and went the distance as they tied 0-0 at home against Duisburg, then he made on of the Penalty's as they advanced 5-4 on PK's after extra time.
-Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - did not suit up as they lost 3-0 at Energie Cottbus.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - not on the game day roster and they lost 2-0 at Schalke.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - started and played 60 minutes as they won 1-2 at Eintracht Frankfurt.
-Sal Zizzo - Hannover - subbed in for the last 19 minutes but they lost 2-0 at Schalke.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English Carling Cup
-Bobby Convey - Reading - started and went 106 minutes of a match at Stoke that went to extra time and finished tied 2-2. They will replay the game at Reading with the date TBA.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - went the distance as they beat West Ham 1-0 at home.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played all 90 minutes but lost 1-0 at Burnley.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - got the day off as the team drew 2-2 at Stoke after extra time. They will replay the game at Reading with the date TBA.
-Eddie Johnson - Cardiff - started and played the first half as they lost 1-0 at Swansea.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

Grahame Jones of the LA Times with an article on national team coach Sven Goren Eriksson and his first few months in charge.
-Jones takes the opportunity to rip USA coaches Bruce Arena and Bob Bradley for not learning to speak Spanish like Sven is. I had no idea that Bradley & Arena had moved on to coach Mexican teams. That shrewd Grahame always has the inside scoop doesn't he? I wonder if he knows Spanish?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with Justino Compean, president of the Mexican Football Federation, who talks about the 2011 U17 World Cup they are hosting and raves about Eriksson.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

West Ham will appeal their 30 Million Pound Fine awarded to Sheffield United yesterday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with an article on Arkadi Gaydamak, the controversial politician whose son owns Portsmouth.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian also report that the big TV deals help the Premiership keep flowing smoothly even in this time of financial craziness.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

GERMANY

Goalkeeper Jens Lehmann lives 150 from his club Stuttgart's training facility, and its been reported that he has frequently been taking a helicopter to go back and forth!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ITALY

When Inter host Lecce tonight team captain Javier Zanetti is expected to make his 600th appearance. 600!!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Football Italia reports that the government has help stop the mafia from infiltrating Palermo's plan to build a new stadium. The pressure got so bad that they team were sent a goats head by the criminals.
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World News

Our friend Andrew sent a link to this video clip called the Worst Fouls In Football History. We all know that this will be mostly from England in the last 5 or so years etc. So it doesn't live up to the title, but its pretty good.
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Jack Warner/Sepp Blatter/FIFA Idiocy & Scandal News

The Independent reports that Trinidad & Tobago has named Dwight Yorke to their roster for 2 World Cup qualifiers early next month. Let's all pray for another Roy Keane (Yorke's coach at Sunderland) v Slappy Jack mudslinging war!