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.

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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
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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
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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.
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Glenn Davis also of the Chronicle thinks we may see different tactics from the Orange as well.
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Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated tells us what he thinks about the CCL so far.
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 28
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 2
Dallas v San Jose - 8pm central on ESPN2
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League Standings
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Bob Luder of the Star with an article on goalkeeper Kevin Hartman who has just released his first children’s book.
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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!
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Nick Green of the Daily Breeze says that the Galaxy and Chivas USA are currently headed in opposite directions.
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Green on his blog 100 Percent Soccer tells us about the sense of doom in Galaxyland.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card talks to former Fire head coach and current Galaxy assistant Dave Sarachen.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer looks at the Bulls tough road to the playoffs.
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The Red Bull Reader has 6 news photos of stadium construction! It's just too bad that these pictures are so small.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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Dean McNulty of the Sun points out that TFC can still qualify for the playoffs, as unlikely as that may seem.
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GENERAL

Colorado forward Conor Casey was named Player Of The Week.
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Pat Walsh at Goal.com tells us about his fave defensive midfielders in the league.
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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.
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Ian Plenderleith at When Saturday Comes says MLS needs some big loud and cocky teams for all the others to really hate.
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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.
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MLS Rookie Of The Year

Can the award go to no one this year, please?
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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
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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
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USL First Division News

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

Left winger Stephen de Roux was named first team All-League, and midfielder Ricardo Sanchez was named second team All-League.
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USL First Division Playoff Schedule

Semifinal 1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Fri Oct 3
Rochester v Puerto Rico
Montreal v Vancouver
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Semifinal 2nd leg Matches & Scores:
-Sun Oct 5
Puerto Rico v Rochester
Vancouver v Montreal - live at 5:30pm central time on FSC
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Mexico & FMF News

FIFA.com does the Q & A with Mexicoach Sven Goren Montgomery Burns Eriksson.
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South American News

ESPN Soccernet with a story on River Plates great young midfielder Diego Bounanotte.
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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.
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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.
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Martin Samuel of the Times seems to get what is going on at Tottenham.
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Samuel also looks at the nasty tackles that are not being taken seriously enough.
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European News

GERMANY

Bild tells us the 5 things Juergen Klinsmann has gotten wrong at Bayern Munich.
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Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian looks at the crumbling scene unfolding in Munich. And it's not all on the field either.
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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.
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The Bundesliga website has a slideshow featuring all of their teams mascots! Hilarious!
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ITALY

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

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

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian calls Cluj the Chelsea of Romania.
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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
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The Guardian reports that Man U were greeted in Aalborg as conquering heroes when they arrived yesterday for the CL match.
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The Observer talks to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger who argues against the "away goals rule" in European football.
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UEFA Cup

Next year this tournament will be re-titled the Europa League, and will feature more teams and more games. Ugh.
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2nd leg matches will be played Sep 30 & Oct 2. With the winners will advancing to the Group Stage.
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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.
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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)
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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.