Semi Way Too Long News

You need to go check out FC Football Blog - the best in Football Highlights. With Match Stories and Video Clips galore from all over Europe's top leagues.

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A big du Nord welcome to ShalrieJoseph.com

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And Presto-Chango just like that, Kevin Keegan is shown the door at Newcastle. That sure didn't last long. Speaking of Newcastle - did you see the video of the teams owner chugging a full beer during their brutal loss at Arsenal. The TV announcer wondered if he might be in a drinking race. Watching it go down was weird/desperate/hilarious all wrapped into one.

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Mystery - Who is this guy in the goal for the USA as they train prior to the Cuba game???

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Toronto coach John Carver in the Globe & Mail describing how his team will play this coming weekend with 9 players out due to national team call ups: “It's like trying to do something with your hands behind you back, blindfolded, and your legs chained. How do you do it? When I came here I never expected anything like this. I've had some challenges in my life but I've never seen anything like this.”


CONCACAF Champions League News

Official CONCACAF website.
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This is the Preliminary Round, with the 8 winners moving on to the group stage which begins on Sep 16.
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The first leg match between Harbour View (Jamaica) & UNAM Pumas was canceled due to damage in Jamaica from Hurricane Gustav, leaving leg 2 (played at the regularly scheduled time and venue) as the only game they will play, hence the decider.
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2nd Leg Matches & Scores (1st leg scores included):
-Tue Sep 2
New England v Joe Public (1-2) - 7pm central on FSC
Chivas USA v Tauro (0-2) - 9pm central on FSC
Real Esteli v Montreal (0-1) - delayed at midnight central on FSC
-Wed Sep 3
Puerto Rico v Alajuelense (1-1)
Hankook Verdes v Cruz Azul (0-6)
Marathon v Isidro Metapan (2-2)
-Thu Sep 4
San Francisco v Jalapa (0-1)
UNAM Pumas v Harbour View (0-0)
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New England will not have a single forward on their game day roster. Kheli Dube, Kenny Mansally & Adam Cristman have all been injured. Then Taylor Twellman got smashed in the face by LA keeper Steve Cronin and not only got 5 stitches but has concussion symptoms and will not play against Joe Public. To make it worse, neither will Steve Ralston who has muscle spasms in his back that he first suffered down in Trinidad & Tobago. (I have had back spasms, and they are waaaaaaay more painful and debilitating then you can imagine.) So how is New England gonna pull this one off?
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 23
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Aug 29
Salt Lake 2-0 Colorado - RSL goals both by Fabian Espindola.
Venue: Rice Eccles Field, Salt Lake City UT
Attendance: 15,257
-Sat Aug 30
New England 2-2 Los Angeles - NER goals by Taylor Twellman & Shalrie Joseph. LAG goals both by Landon Donovan.
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
Attendance: 39,256
DC 0-0 New York
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
Attendance: 15,616
Dallas 1-2 Columbus - FCD goal by Jeff Cunningham. CC goals by Alejandro Moreno & Eddie Gaven.
Venue: Pizza Hut Park, Frisco TX
Attendance: 10,590
San Jose 2-1 Kansas City - SJE goals by Arturo Alvarez & Darren Huckerby. KCW goal by Davy Arnaud.
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara CA
Attendance: 10,089
Chivas 2-1 Toronto - CUSA goals by Alecko Eskandarian & Atiba Harris. TFC goal by Jim Brennan.
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
Attendance: 12,561
-Sun Aug 31
Houston 2-1 Chicago - HD goals by Dwayne De Rosario & Brian Mullan. CF goal by Brian McBride.
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
Attendance: 22,554
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League Standings
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US Open Cup

Final
Match & Score:
-Wed Sep 3
DC United v Charleston Battery - 6:30pm central on Fox Soccer Channel
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
Match preview by Steve Davis at Soccernet.
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Orrin Schwarz of the Daily Herald compares the Fire of the early days (Euro influenced) to the current days (Latino influenced).
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Defender Gonzalo Segares has been called in to the Costa Rican national team.
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Midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco has been called in to the Mexican national team.
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Midfielder Marco Pappa has been called in to the Guatemalan national team.
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And Colombia are fools for not calling in defender Wilman Conde.
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CD CHIVAS USA

Defender Shavar Thomas has been called in to the Jamaican national team.
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Forward Atiba Harris will miss the next match due to Yellow Card accumulation suspension.
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COLORADO RAPIDS

Goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul has been called in to the Senegal national team.
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COLUMBUS CREW

I completely forgot to link to this last week, but it's always such good reading that a week late does not make it stale: Steve Sirk with his fantastic Columbus Crew Notebook.
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Forward Alejandro Moreno has been called in to the Venezuelan national team.
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Midfielder Duncan Oughton has been called in to the New Zealand national team.
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FC DALLAS

Defender Adrian Serioux has been called into the Canadian national team.
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DC UNITED

Forward Jamie Moreno has been called into the Bolivian national team.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Steve Davis at MLSnet looks at how Houston was able to beat the league's best defense from Chicago.
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Goalkeeper Pat Onstad has been called into the Canadian national team.
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Midfielder Dwayne De Rosario has been called into the Canadian national team.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

The Galaxy will play another post season game in New Zealand later this year. And probably Australia too say the money sniffers.
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Midfielder David Beckham has been called in to the English national team.
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Defender Ante Jazic has been called into the Canadian national team.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Defender Gabriel Badilla has been called in to the Costa Rican national team.
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Forward Kenny Mansally has been called in to the Gambian national team.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Midfielder Jorge Rojas has been called in to the Venezuelan national team.
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Defender Andrew Boyens has been called into the New Zealand national team.
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REAL SALT LAKE

Midfielder Andy Williams has been called in to the Jamaican national team.
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And why no call up from Colombia for Jamison Olave?
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

They have done the nearly impossible as an expansion team and climbed out of last place! What an amazing job this has been for coach Frank Yallop who is clearly cleaning up his image as a great coach who failed in LA. Back to the top Frank!
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TORONTO FC

TFC will be without 9 players this week who have been called away to their national teams. Coach John Carver says MLS is the only league in the world not breaking for the International dates. He is wrong. The Brazilian league is playing too. But I jest. Of course he is right, this situation is extremely idiotic.
-Those players are:
Jim Brennan - Canada
Amado Guevara - Honduras
Julius James - Trinidad & Tobago
Tyrone Marshall - Jamaica
Carl Robinson - Wales
Carlos Ruiz - Guatemala
Jarrod Smith - New Zealand
Greg Sutton - Canada
Marvell Wynne -USA
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GENERAL

Real Salt Lake forward Fabian Espindola was named Player Of The Week.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet with "Five things to note from MLS Week 23."
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Davis with more weekly notes at MLSnet. (Second half of article.)
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider with his weekly review, The Good, The Bad & The Coyote Ugly.
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MLS Golden Boot

16 Landon Donovan
13 Kenny Cooper
12 Edson Buddle
11 Luciano Emilio
9 Jaime Moreno
9 Brian Ching
8 Alejandro Moreno
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USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Aug 27
Vancouver 2-0 Atlanta
-Fri Aug 29
Miami 1-2 Minnesota
Charleston 0-0 Puerto Rico
-Sat Aug 30
Carolina 0-2 Montreal
Atlanta 0-1 Rochester
-Sun Aug 31
Puerto Rico 1-1 Vancouver
Miami 1-1 Minnesota
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USL First Division Standings

Points - Team - Games played of 30 (goal difference):
46 Puerto Rico (26) (GD +17)
46 Vancouver (26) (GD +5)
37 Charleston (26) (GD +4)
37 Rochester (26) (GD +4)
36 Seattle (26)
34 Montreal (24)
32 Atlanta (27)
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31 Minnesota (26)
28 Miami (26) (GD -1)
28 Portland (25) (GD -5)
27 Carolina (26)
(The top 7 teams advance to the playoffs.)
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Team USA

The team is training at Barry University in Miami Shores FL, near Orlando.
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Matches & Scores:
-Sat Sep 6
Cuba v USA
Match preview by Ives Galarcep at Soccernet.
-Wed Sep 10
USA v Trinidad & Tobago
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Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated talks to Landon Donovan about heading to Cuba. Donovan comes off a little silly at times here.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider talks to Cuban defector & Chivas USA forward Maykel Galindo about the big match for his native land.
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Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated writes about Oguchi Onyewu, who is returning to the form that made us all fall in love with him. Obey!
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Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet gives us an idea of the reception the US team will get in Cuba.
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Official team blog.
Highlights:
-Q & A with Eddie Lewis.
-Chat with Eddie Johnson.
-Video from Monday training session.
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Lewis talking about head injuries: In college, I had a head on head collision. I had three metal plates and nine screws inserted around my right eye. The doctors said those plates prevented the bones from breaking again this time around.
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US Soccer gives us photos from training.
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Americans In Europe

TRANSFER RUMORS

Michael Bradley is the only American with a move on transfer deadline day as he leaves Dutch club Heerenveen and signs with German club Borussia Monchengladbach. Here is the story from the teams website.
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While Oguchi Onyewu & Heath Pearce went nowhere.
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MOST RECENT MATCHES

-Freddy Adu - Monaco - came on in the 82nd minute but could not help the team in a 1-0 road loss at newly promoted Grenoble.
-Jozy Altidore - Valencia - on the bench but did not play as they drew 1-1 at Osasuna.
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - not on the game day squad as they won the Old Firm derby 2-4 at Celtic.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - played the full 90 minutes and helped them get a 0-0 clean sheet draw away from home at Toulouse.
-Dan Califf - Midtjylland - started but only lasted 39 minutes until a 2nd Yellow Card got him tossed, and the team went on to draw 1-1 at home against Vejle. (Meanwhile his old club just made it to the group stage of the Champions League.)
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the distance but they were beaten 2-0 at Stuttgart.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - sat on the bench watching his team win 4-2 at home over Crystal Palace.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played the full 90 in a 2-1 home win over Ipswich.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - the team had no game this weekend.
-Maurice Edu - Rangers - on the bench but did not play as they won 2-4 at Celtic.
-Benny Feilhaber - Aarhus - was a sub in the 59th minute but the team lost 0-3 at home against Nordsjaelland.
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - tended to the net in a 0-0 home draw against Liverpool.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went the distance as usual in a nice 4-2 home win over Crystal Palace.
-Tim Howard - Everton - in goal for a brutal 0-3 home loss to Portsmouth.
-Eddie Johnson - Cardiff - came on for the final 4 minutes plus stoppage time in a scoreless road draw at Sheffield United.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Liege - started and went all 90 as usual but could only get a 1-1 draw at Roeselare. One exciting thing is how few cards he has been given this season.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa - came on as a half time sub but they lost 1-0 at Freiburg.
-Neven Subotic - Dortmund - went the distance, scoring the games only goal as they won 0-1 at Energie Cottbus. Sadly it feels more and more like he is the next Giuseppe Rossi, an American who will not be playing for his home country, but rather his family heritage will drag him to a big European team.
-Danny Szetela - Brescia - went all 90 minutes as they drew 2-2 at Empoli.
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - played all 90 as they got drilled 0-3 at home by Nordsjaelland.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

The Jamaica v Mexico match scheduled for Sat Sep 6 have been moved to Estadio Azteca in the DF due to damage from Hurricane Gustav, with the second match being switched to Jamaica.
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Shaun Fuentes of Soccer365 previews T&T's upcoming pair of matches.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Schedule

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Sep 6
Trinidad & Tobago v Guatemala
Cuba v USA
Mexico v Jamaica
Canada v Honduras
Haiti v El Salvador
Costa Rica v Surinam
-Wed Sep 10
USA v Trinidad & Tobago
Guatemala v Cuba
Honduras v Jamaica
Mexico v Canada
Surinam v El Salvador
Haiti v Costa Rica
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Mexico & FMF News

The Jamaica v Mexico match scheduled for Sat Sep 6 have been moved to Estadio Azteca in the DF due to damage from Hurricane Gustav, with the second match being switched to Jamaica.
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England News

The craziest story in all of the European transfer deadline craziness is not about a player at all. It's about a team! The former Thai Prime Minister has sold Manchester City to a group of investors from the UAE! Then those new people turned around and stole Robinho out from under Chelsea's nose, bringing him to the north of England instead of London where we all thought he would go. Holy desert switcheroo! Oh, and by the way, they paid $65 million US dollars for him. An English record fee. They got ripped off.
-Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune with 2 stories on the sale of the team - The original story, and the follow-up.
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Sid Lowe of the Guardian wonders if signing Robinho isn’t a risk.
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Barney Ronay at the Guardian writes about Man United finally getting their man, forward Dimitar Berbatov, from Tottenham.
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The Guardian gives us the meltdown at the top of the Newcastle pyramid.
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European News

FRANCE

Ben Lyttleton of the Guardian on a potential new day dawning at Paris St Germain. With Claude Makelele as the catalyst.
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ITALY

Football Italia with a review of Week 1 in Serie A.
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Paolo Bandini of the Guardian tells us the Ronaldinho’s debut was great, but his team was not so hot.
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All Napoli supporters will be banned from away games for the entire season! They destroyed a train car after their game in Rome this weekend, which was their 500th shot at being decent human beings.
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Inter introduced new signing Ricardo "Yes, you got that right, I am gorgeous!" Quaresma today. The midfielder was bought from Porto in Portugal.
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Excellent Argentine striker Diego Milito has signed with Genoa from Real Zaragoza.
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Remember the Brazilian kid who did the "seal dribble"? He signed with Chievo Verona from Cruzeiro.
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The main Scudetto contenders kicked off the new season in stumbling bumbling fashion:
Sampdoria 1-1 Inter
Milan 1-2 Bologna
Roma 1-1 Napoli
Fiorentina 1-1 Juventus
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SPAIN

Phil Ball at Soccernet recaps the wild first weekend that saw Real Madrid & Barcelona both lose!
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Sid Lowe of the Guardian on Barcelona’s flop out of the gate.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the Davids of Valencia, Silva and Villa.
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The Big 2 laid an egg to start the La Liga season:
Numancia 1-0 Barcelona
Osasuna 1-1 Villarreal
Racing Santander 1-1 Sevilla
Atletico Madrid 4-0 Malaga
Deportivo La Coruna 2-1 Real Madrid
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OTHERS

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian introduces us to a new potential football power, Montenegro.
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Big Euro Club Matches This Week

UEFA Super Cup
-Fri Aug 29
Manchester United 1-2 Zenit St Petersburg - the Champions League winner v the UEFA Cup winner
-The Russians got a big win, and my Ruskie-crazed buddy Sean will get his day in the sun very soon - as guest editor of du Nord for one whole day. Dear Mother Earth help us all. You have been warned.
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-Sun Aug 31
Celtic 2-4 Rangers - it's never good to lose the Old Firm classic at home. Ever.
Chelsea 1-1 Tottenham - Chelsea missed their chance to take a lead over Man United by dropping points.