Creep Along The Shoulder News

DC had not 1 but 2 goalkeepers Red Carded in Mexico City as they lose 2-0 to Cruz Azul. Details in the CONCACAF Champions League section.

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With a home draw last night Montreal has guaranteed a spot in the CCL quarterfinals next spring. They have done this in only 5 round, with 1 still left to go in which they can take first place in the group! Huge!

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A staggering 36 goals were scored in 8 UEFA Champions League games yesterday! That is 4.5 per game! See details in the UEFA Champions League section.


CONCACAF Champions League

Official CCL website
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Matchday 5
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 21
Impact de Montreal 1-1 Olimpia - MI goal by Roberto Brown. Olim goal by Washington Ramiro Bruschi.
Venue: Saputo Stadium, Montreal QC
Match report from the Montreal Gazette.
Cruz Azul 2-0 DC United - CA goals by Nicolas Vigneri & Pablo Zeballos.
Venue: Estadio Azul, Mexico City DF
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Post game notes from Goff on his blog Soccer Insider.
Post game analysis by Jack Bell of the New York Times blog Goal.
Joe Public 0-2 Atlante - Atl goals by Ismael Valadez & Gabriel Pereyra.
Venue: Marvin Lee Stadium, Tunapuna Trinidad & Tobago
-Wed Oct 22
Houston Dynamo v UNAM Pumas - 9pm central on FSC
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
Match preview by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
San Francisco v Luis Angel Firpo
Venue: Estadio Agustin Sanchez, La Chorrera Panama
Santos Laguna v Tauro
Venue: Estadio Corona, Torreon COA
-Thu Oct 23
Puerto Rico Islanders v Municipal - 10pm central on FSC
Venue: Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium, Bayamon PR
POSTPONED DUE TO FLOODING Marathon v Saprissa - no new date has been set yet.
Venue: Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula Honduras
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The referee in the Cruz Azul v DC game last night, Roberto Moreno of Panama, has turned into the biggest peacock in all of CONCACAF. Strutting around like he owns the place. He is tall and thin with a pseudo flattop haircut giving him the look of a Marine drill Sergeant. His calls are overly dramatic, and wildly inconsistent. But his main reason for being out there is for TV time. He wants everyone to know that HE is in charge of the game. What a joke.
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Standings (games played):
Group A
10 Cruz Azul (5)
7 Saprissa (4)
7 Marathon (4)
% 1 DC (5)
Group B
6 UNAM Pumas (4)
5 Houston (3)
4 Firpo (3)
2 San Francisco (4)
Group C
* 11 Montreal (5)
* 8 Atlante (5)
5 Olimpia (5)
% 3 Joe Public (5)
Group D
7 Puerto Rico (4)
7 Tauro (4)
6 Santos Laguna (4)
2 Municipal (4)
* Advanced
% Elimidated
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 31
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 23
**Chicago v New York - 8pm central on ESPN2
Match preview by Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet.
-Sat Oct 25
**New England v Kansas City - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
**Colorado v Salt Lake - 8:30pm central on HDNet
San Jose v Toronto - 9pm central on Direct Kick
Chivas v Houston - 9:30pm central on FSC
-Sun Oct 26
Los Angeles v Dallas - 2pm central on TeleFutura
**Columbus v DC - 4pm central on Direct Kick

**these 4 games have big playoff implications
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League Standings
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Left fullback Gonzalo Segares will not play on Thursday due to suspension from Yellow Card accumulation.
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Luis Arroyave of the Tribune looks at the advantage of having home field in the playoffs. Is it worth something, or not?
-More on this topic from Arroyave on his blog The Red Card.
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Orrin Schwarz of the Daily Herald takes a look at Thursday's opponent New York and their all too familiar coach Juan Carlos Orosco.
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The teams website has a Q & A with owner Andrew Hauptman.
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CD CHIVAS USA

After only arriving in So Cal a month ago, Sasha Victorine has given the Amerigoats a big lift, but he suffered a badly sprained left knee last Sunday and will most likely only be available again if the team makes it all the way to the final.
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COLORADO RAPIDS

Rapids Class VI blog has a Q & A with midfielder Nick LaBrocca, who has had a good breakout season.
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COLUMBUS CREW

The Dallas Morning News makes a case for Guillermo Barros Schelotto to be named league MVP. And many other soccer notes.
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With only one game left now, and facing a Red Card suspension, midfielder Marcelo Saragosa decided to knee surgery right away to clean up a lingering problem, He should be ready shortly after pre-season camp starts next year.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Even though the Dyn are playing a huge Mexican team Pumas tonight, expect them to continue their trend of playing a large number of reserves so they can rest regulars for the playoff run.
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Glenn Davis on his blog The Soccer gives us some notes on tonight’s Houston v UNAM match and other team, league and world soccer topics.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

In an email exchange I had last week with Mike from the great KC fan blog Down the Byline he told me about their collective admiration for how much effort and life Herculez Gomez has brought to the team since he was bought from Colorado in September. They on Saturday Gomez proved his worth by banging home the game winner in stoppage time that kept them in playoff contention. They are one of 5 teams who will fight it out this weekend for the final 3 playoff spots. What I am really trying to say here, is that we should all listen to what Mike has to say!
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Randy Covitz of the KC Star writes today about that very player, Herculez Gomez. (I wrote my little paragraph above before I even knew this was running today.)
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Covitz also gives us the Wiz playoff scenarios.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer writes that all the Bulls have to do is win Thursday night and they are in the playoffs regardless of what other teams do over the weekend.
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Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives talks to some of the Red Bulls as they prepare for the big game.
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REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret News looks at both the playoff spot and the Rocky Mountain Cup that are on the line when RSL goes to Denver this weekend.
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Michael C Lewis of the Tribune writes that the players are more concerned about making the playoffs than winning the Rocky Mountain Cup.
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Greg Seltzer at Soccer365 talks to defender Nat Borchers about the final game of the regular season.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Jeff Carlisle of Center Line Soccer wonders if midfielder Francisco Lima will be back next season.
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TORONTO FC

Dean McNulty if the Sun tries to find out if midfielder Carl Robinson will be around next season or not.
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GENERAL

Yellow Card accumulation does not carry over from the regular season to the post season. So if a player hits the suspension number on the last day of the season they will not have to sit out a playoff game. I don't like that part of the rule.
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MLSnet have the editorial staff put together who they feel are the leading contenders for the leagues post season individual awards.
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Beau Dure of USA Today looks at the 3 Eastern Conference teams still fighting for the playoffs. They can only claim 2 of 3 remaining spots (at most).
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Andrew Hush at ESPN Soccernet with his weekly notes and thoughts on the league.
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

The rumors are getting stronger about David Beckman going to play at AC Milan in the MSL off-season. But I am sticking to my opinion that he is going to train there starting in January, but will not play games. Just like he did with Arsenal last year.
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Soccer In America

Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer takes a look at the first real Super Club in the United States. No Alexi it's not Red Bull or the Galaxy. It's Rush. Who? You ask. You must not know anything about youth soccer so read on.
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Americans In Europe

Yanks Abroad talks to Brad Guzan about his job sitting on the bench at Aston Villa. (He's getting paid a lot of money too.)
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TRANSFER RUMORS

Soccer365 reports that Kamani Hill is on trial at Bodo/Glimt in Norway, from Wolfsburg.
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MOST RECENT MATCHES

English Championship Division - Tues Oct 21 league games
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - played the whole match as usual in a 2-1 home win over Doncaster.
-Eddie Johnson - Cardiff - came on in the 65th minute of a 2-2 draw at Watford.
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English League One - Tues Oct 21 league games
-Jemal Johnson - MK Dons - came off the bench in the 74th minute but they lost at home on a last minute Own Goal, 1-2 to Stockport.
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - played all 90 minutes as they won on the road 1-2 over Colchester.
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Mexico & FMF News

The FMF has kicked Nueva Italia out of the Liga de Nuevos Talentos section of the Segunda Division (technically the 3rd level from top) due to their ownerships involvement with the major drug cartels of Mexico. This is pretty big news if you ask me.
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise looks at the very hot seat currently occupied by Mr Sven Goren Eriksson, the Mexican national team manager.
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England News

David Conn of the Guardian looks at which Premiership team owners could be most affected by a world wide recession.
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The Independent reports that one of Liverpool's two owners Tom Hicks is still standing firm on his vow not to sell the team.
-But with the opposite view, The Times reports that the 2 owners are actively seeking a buyer.
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Martin Samuels of the Times looks at UEFA president Michel Platini's constant slagging off of English football.
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European News

GERMANY

Deutsche Welle reports on a serious difference of opinion going on between national team coach Joachim Lowe and team captain Michael Ballack.
-The DW blog Ballspiel has two posts today with more on the conflict between coach and veteran players. ONE - and - TWO.
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ITALY

Again the threat of violence has forced the Serie A to ban Roma fans from traveling to their match against Juventus on Nov 1.
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SCOTLAND

The Independent hears from Manchester police that Celtic fans were in great spirits and perfect conduct for last nights Champions League match. It's nice to see that kind of report for a change.
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SPAIN

The BBC with an article on Atletico Madrid forward Diego Forlan. He may have been a disaster at Manchester United, but he has torn it up since he returned to Spain. Today his team faces Liverpool in the Champions League.
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UEFA Champions League

Matchday 3 is next week on Tue Oct 21 & Wed Oct 22.
-Tue Oct 21
Manchester United 3-0 Celtic - MU goals by Dimitar Berbatov(2) & Wayne Rooney.
Juventus 2-1 Real Madrid - Juve goals by Alessandro Del Piero & Amauri. RM goal by Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
Zenit St Petersburg 1-1 BATE Borisov - ZSP goal by Fatih Tekke. BATE goal by Pavel Nekhaychik.
Fenerbahce 2-5 Arsenal - Fene goals by Mikael Silvestre(OG) & Daniel Guiza. Arse goals by Emmanuel Adebayor, Theo Walcott, Abou Diaby, Alexandre Song & Aaron Ramsey.
Porto 0-1 Dynamo Kyiv - Kyiv goal by Olexandr Aliyev.
Villarreal 6-3 Aalborg - Giuseppe Rossi, Joan Capdevila, Joseba Llorente(3) & Robert Pires. AaB goals by Marek Saganowski, Thomas Enevoldsen & Andreas Johansson.
Bayern Munich 3-0 Fiorentina - BM goals by Miroslav Klose, Bastian Schweinsteiger & Ze Roberto.
Steaua Bucuresti 3-5 Lyon - Stea goals by Arthuro, Dorian Goian & Ovidiu Petre. Lyon goals by Kadar Keita, Karim Benzema(2) & Fred(2).
-Wed Oct 22
Atletico Madrid v Liverpool - 1:30pm central on ESPN2 & 3:45pm central on ESPN Deportes
Chelsea v Roma - 1pm central on Setanta, 4pm central on ESPN Classic & 6:30pm central on ESPN Deportes
Panathinaikos v Werder Bremen - 4:30pm central on Setanta
Shakhtar Donetsk v Sporting - 7pm central on Setanta
Basel v Barcelona - 1:30pm central on ESPN Deportes
Bordeaux v Cluj
Inter v Anorthosis
PSV v Marseille
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Group Standings
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reviews Tuesday's CL matches.
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Barney Ronay of the Guardian on the cool, calm and deadly Dimitar Berbatov for Manchester United.
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UEFA Cup

32 teams kick off the Group Stage on Thu Oct 23. Here are those matches.
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World News

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune gives us a fascinating look at the people from two ends of the spectrum of the soccer world - Nike endorsed star player Ronaldo, and a former Adidas factory child laborer (ball stitcher) Tahira Bibi.
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African News

Peter Mallett of the Toronto Globe & Mail reports that South Africa is set to honor the late Ace Ntsoelengoe! My favorite soccer player from my childhood! This article talks about his 2 seasons playing in Toronto, but all of his best years were right here with my Minnesota Kicks! He fully deserves to be honored by his country.
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Africa World Cup Qualifying

Here are the 5 groups for the final stage of qualifying:
GROUP A
Cameroon
Gabon
Morocco
Togo
GROUP B
Kenya
Mozambique
Nigeria
Tunisia
GROUP C
Algeria
Egypt
Rwanda
Zambia
GROUP D
Benin
Ghana
Mali
Sudan
GROUP E
Burkina Faso
Cote d'Ivoire
Guinea
Malawi
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Each group will play a full home-and-away round-robin tournament with the 5 winners advancing to the big dance, along with host country South Africa who qualify automatically.