What Would The Little Fella Like For Breakfast News

Soccer America points out today that Columbus is the first team to qualify for this seasons MLS playoffs! See more in Columbus Crew section.

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Which big money MLS player has been a bigger disappointment this season: Dulio Davino, Marcelo Gallardo or Claudio Lopez?

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A TV pundit in Germany has referred to Juergen Klinsmann as "the white Barak Obama". Wow. See more in the European News - Germany section.


CONCACAF Champions League News

Official CCL website
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Matchday 2 Matches & Scores:
-Tue Sep 23
San Francisco v Houston Dynamo - live at 7pm central on FSC
Match preview by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Puerto Rico Islanders v Santos Laguna - live at 7pm central on Galavision
Cruz Azul v Saprissa - live at 9pm central on Galavision
-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
-Thu Sep 25
Tauro v Municipal - live at 7pm central on Galavision
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The Houston v Firpo game that was postponed from Matchday 1 due to damage from Hurricane Ike has been rescheduled to Wed Nov. 26.
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MLS Scoreboard

League Standings
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MLS News

COLUMBUS CREW

How did no one notice this yesterday? Soccer America points out today that With the results this weekend going the way they did Columbus becomes the first team to qualify for the playoffs! Congrats to the Crew. Of course in a pre-season poll I predicted that they would finish last in the East.
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Steve Sirk strikes again - with his extensive Columbus Crew notes.
-Midfielder Stephani Miglioranzi got 20 stitches to close a gash on his leg from a collision with Mike Magee of New York in last Thursday nights game. "It was down to the bone."
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DC UNITED

The Gazette of Maryland with a story on DCU youth players and the raised level of play they are encountering.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Chronicle with various team, league and world soccer notes.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Grant Wahl with an article on LA owner AEG who want to re-write the league rules again about high buck players.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives finally gets the real word on what went down with NYRB youth player Johnny Exantus heading to a feeder team in Belgium instead of staying with the Bulls. He got tired of waiting for them to make him a part of the senior squad. Simple as that.
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A picture of the construction site at Red Bull Arena. From the teams official weblog.
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REAL SALT LAKE

How did I miss out on this genius/insane video from Ian Joy & Kenny Deuchar, the Scotsman of RSL: Scot Lake City. Wow! From the people who brought us the equally fantastic "Kyle & Jave Show".
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Also a photo of the team practicing this morning for the first time ever at the new stadium. From the teams official blog, Behind The Shield.
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Midfielder Javier Morales has signed a contract extension with the team that will run through the end of the 2012 season.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Elliot Almond of the Mercury News with an article on defender and team captain Nick Garcia.
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TORONTO FC

The Toronto Sun finally stands up to the idiots at BMO Field who keep throwing things at opposing players during games. (It no doubt happens at other stadiums too.) It has gone on in that stadium since day 1, and beyond the token written reprimand from league HQ nothing has been done to stop it. Sure there aren't as many streamers thrown when other teams take corner kicks, but they do keep coming. And people throwing beers is even dumber, not to mention that some would find it a waste of spiritual nectar. And then there was another fight with Crew fans. It's good to read the right words from the right people including supporters. Now let's see what actually happens.
-Dean McNulty of the Sun, who covers the team regularly for 2 years now, follows up with words from Toronto fans involved in the mess, and has a listen to what the team itself has to say. I like a good follow up story.
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Morgan Campbell of the Star on his TFC blog says there is more knee troubles for Carlos Ruiz.
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GENERAL

Los Angeles forward Landon Donovan was named Player Of The Week. He has taken the award 4 times this season.
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John Molinaro of the CBC was a confirmed Euro Snob. But the wall has come down. First it was Toronto FC, then MLS, and now the Montreal Impact! Hooray Beer! Boo Euro Snobs!
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Soccer 365 has words from former LA coach Ruud Gullit about the league. Some good things and some bad things.
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Pat Walsh at Goal.com takes a look at the teams in the Western conference who appear to be peaking at the right time of the season.
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Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle breaks down the race for the playoff spots.
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An article in Adweek about the live streaming of sporting events says MLS plans to change their system to "free" for next season and run advertising to pay for it.
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Chelsea forward Nicolas Anelka claims he may leave the team in January and come to MLS. Ok then.
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MLS Stadium Talk

The Washington Post with the latest on a potential new DC United stadium in suburban Maryland.
-More stadium tidbits from Steven Goff of the Post on his blog Soccer Insider.
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MLS Expansion News

Ryan Johnston of Sportsnet talks to Eugene Melnyk who is making the bid for a new team in Ottawa.
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USL First Division News

The Oregonian with an article on the Portland Timbers turning a profit this season - even though they finished last in the league!
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The Montreal Gazette has a Q & A with Impact team owner Joey Saputo.
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Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald with some thoughts on where the USL, and locally Miami FC, stand in the American soccer big picture. (thanks to James for sending us this link from Sunday)
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The USL First Division Team of the Week.
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Minnesota Thunder

Forward Nate Knox was signed late in the season from Atlanta and contributed goals in three straight games. It all came to an end in the first half of the win over Montreal last Saturday night when he tore both ACL & MCL in his right knee. See you next year around midseason Nate. Best of luck man.
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Two of the teams players, Brian Cvilikas and Ricardo Sanchez made the leagues Team of the Week.
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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.
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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
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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
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Team USA

USA Soccer has a video travelogue of the teams recent trip to Cuba. Part 1.
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Yanks Abroad gives a tip of the hat in appreciation of the efforts of veterans Frankie Hejduk & Eddie Lewis.
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Soccer In America

Voting for the 2008 Honda Player of the Year ends tomorrow. Who do you think should win it?
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The Northern Star from Northern Illinois University with an article imploring Americans to give the beautiful game a chance.
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The Erie Times News has a Q & A with TV commentator JP Dellacamera. (He picks soccer over hockey.)
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Americans In Europe

Ravi Ubha at ESPN Soccernet talks to Clint Dempsey about his lack of playing time so far this season with Fulham.
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MOST RECENT MATCHES

Swedish Allsvenskan:
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - played the entire match but lost 1-0 at Elfsborg on an own goal.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - play at Goteborg on Wednesday.
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CONCACAF News

FIFA.com talks to Cuba head man Reinhold Fanz.
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Mexico & FMF News

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on Mexico's match against Chile on Wednesday at the Coliseum in LA.
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise looks at the this game and all its sideshow oddities.
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England News

The Independent with an article on Sheffield United who have won a lawsuit against West Ham dating back nearly 2 years to when Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano played illegally for West Ham, who beat out Sheff United to avoid relegation on the last day of the season.
-Martin Samuel of the Times feels that this case sets a bad precedent.
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The Independent also has a story on the new owners of Manchester City who are set to make it official today.
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The Third Round of the Carling Cup gets rolling today. Here is the schedule.
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The Observer last Sunday wrote that Tottenham has sold their way to the bottom of the league.
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European News

FRANCE

Ben Lyttleton of the Guardian recaps the weeks matches in Ligue Un, and tells us about the exciting new batch of Brazilians lighting it up.
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GERMANY

Raphael Honingstein of the Guardian tries to figure out what is going wrong at Bayern Munich. Franz Beckenbauer compared the 2-5 home loss to Bremen to: "one of those days when you break a finger picking your nose". And the rest of the Bundesliga too. Great stuff.
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ITALY

Gazzetta dello Sport compares and contrasts the two teams they think will fight it out for the league title this season - Juventus and Inter Milan.
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Serie A has a full slate of league games on Wednesday, and then again on the weekend. The best looking match up is Lazio v Fiorentina.
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SPAIN

La Liga has a full slate of league games on Wednesday & Thursday, and then another round on the weekend ahead. The highlight is the minor Madrid derby - Atletico v Getafe.
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OTHERS

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian with an article on Dimano Zagreb and their dreams of both league and European success.
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Jack Warner/Sepp Blatter/FIFA Idiocy & Scandal News

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on Sepp The Politician.
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Middle Eastern News

FIFA.com reports that the Iraqi national team is training in Baghdad for the first time since the American invasion over 5 years ago.