Got A Crate Full News

Get Ready For The Hex! In defeating Cuba 6-1 at RFL Stadium on Saturday night, the USA has officially advance to the Hexagon round of World Cup qualifying. These 10 games will start next February and decide the 3.5 teams that will advance to South Africa in 2010. And by the way, in case you didn't hear the news, Mexico lost 1-0 in Jamaica! Costa Rica joins the USA as the first 2 to advance.

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Congrats to the Vancouver Whitecaps who won the First Division championship on Sunday night, 2-1 over Puerto Rico. I am still upset though that PR finished tops in the regular season by 1 point over Vancouver yet had to fly a billion miles to Western Canada to play the final game. Something is wrong with a set up like that. I also propose they move to a home and away series for the final because the last 11 titles have ALL been won by the home team.

~and~

Hooray Beer! The Columbus Crew has clinched the 2008 Supporters Shield, for having the best record in the regular season. With 2 rounds still to play, no one can catch them now. Congrats to Big Sig and the Crew. And again I must point out that I picked them to finish last in East in a preseason poll. I am an idiot.

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Chicago and Chivas became the 4th & 5th teams to qualify for the post season playoffs.

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A fan(?) in Houston who shouted a racial slur at DC keeper Louis Crayton was caught and banned from all future Dynamo games! From all reports it was handled swiftly and professionally like it should be. Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on his blog Soccer y Futbol has the story.

~and~

New England midfielder and huge du Nord favorite Steve Ralston had his leg (right fibula) broken in a poor (but without intent to injure) tackle by Herculez Gomez of the Kansas City Wizards on Saturday night, Ralston will more than likely not take to the field again this season. A major blow to the Revs run for MLS Cup.


Team USA

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 11
USA 6-1 Cuba - USA goals by DaMarcus Beasley(2), Landon Donovan, Brian Ching, Jozy Altidore & Oguchi Onyewu. Cuba goal by Jenzy Munoz.
Attendance: 20,293
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
-Cuba Misconduct: Yoel Colome - 2 Yellow Cards, Ejection. Reysander Fernandez - Yellow Card.
-USA Misconduct: Michael Bradley - Yellow Card, will miss the next game due to accumulation.
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Match report by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Match report by Beau Dure of USA Today.
Match report by Ronald Blum of the Associated Press. Via Yahoo Sports.
Match report from Yanks Abroad.
Match report and USA player ratings by Ives Galarcep at ESPN Soccernet.
Match report and USA player ratings by Robert Wegman of Soccer Times.
Game photos from US Soccer.
Game highlight video, and post game interview video with USA coach & players from US Soccer.
Post game quotes by USA coach & players from US Soccer.
Post game analysis by Filip Bondy of the NY Daily News.
Post game analysis by Galarcep at Soccer by Ives.
Post game analysis from Goal.com.
Post game analysis from FIFA.com.
Player ratings for the USA by Goff on his blog Soccer Insider.
Player ratings for the USA by Jack Bell of the New York Times blog Goal.
Player ratings for the USA by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Player ratings for the USA & Cuba from Goal.com.
-Wed Oct 15
Trinidad & Tobago v USA - live at 7pm central on ESPN
Venue: Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain, Trinidad
Match preview by Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet.
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My notes from the USA-Cuba game:
-While I am not a fan of the 4-5-1 team formation that Bradley uses, I don't see a ton of options with the players they have to use.
-I think the team had a bad mental let down after going up 2-0, and Cuba got their goal. Not good.
-Bradley picked up a Yellow Card and will be suspended for the next game. Did he do that on purpose? It was in the 92nd minute after all.
-Jozy Altidore getting 2 goals in 2 big games is a great start to his national team career.
-Freddy Adu put in a fantastic pin point cross for Gooch to head home! And how about Gooch at forward!
-Jose Francisco Torres had a very impressive debut. His control, passing, defense and shooting were all top notch. Can't wait to see more of him.
-2 Cuban players deserted the team before the match as are presumed to be seeking asylum in the US.
-Charlie Davies, Michael Orozco, Troy Perkins & Danny Szetela were the four players on the training roster that did not make the 18 player game day roster.
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Greg Lalas of Sports Illustrated is still not feeling USA World Cup qualifying fever take hold of him. I understand. But I love a 6-1 beatdown none the less.
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George Vecsey of the New York Times looks at the growth of our USA team.
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Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives chats with Jozy Altidore after the game about several subjects.
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Doug McIntyre of ESPN Soccernet with an article on the debut of Jose Francisco Torres.
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The Washington Post has a story on the glorious return to goal scoring for DaMarcus Beasley.
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The USA page of the World Cup Blog site has some, uh, "party pictures" of two young USA players (Szetela & Kljestan) doing some, uh, "partying". Will this cause any commotion? (thanks to BQ for sending me this)
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The Washington Post has the story of one Cuban defector - Reinier Alcantara.
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Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald has the story of the 2nd defector - Pedro Faife.
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Official Team Blog
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The roster for Wednesday night at T&T:
G:
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa
Troy Perkins - Valerenga
D:
Jonathan Bornstein - Chivas USA
Dan Califf - Midtjylland
Frankie Hejduk - Columbus Crew
Michael Orozco - San Luis
Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock
Marvell Wynne - Toronto
M:
Freddy Adu - Monaco
DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers
Brian Carroll - Columbus
Maurice Edu - Rangers
Sacha Kljestan - Chivas USA
Danny Szetela - Brescia
Jose Francisco Torres - Pachuca
F:
Jozy Altidore - Villarreal
Charlie Davies - Hammarby
Chris Rolfe - Chicago
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Ives Galarcep at ESPN Soccernet looks at the roster heading to Port Of Spain for Wednesday night.
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Due to virus and ankle tweak Kenny Cooper turned down a chance to join the USA this week at T&T. FCD's official blog has the details.
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Robbie Rogers of Columbus was called in too, but suffered a back injury in their game Sunday in Chicago.
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Pablo Mastroeni suffered a knee injury against LA that prevented him from being called in.
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du Nord 3 Stars Of The Game

3. Sacha Kljestan - moved much further forward than in the game against T & T, made a great pass to Beasley for goal 1, and had a great header that Ching put away for goal 2. His passing was nearly alwasy right on the money, and very rarely backward. Love to him progress. Can't wait until he is in full flow Chivas USA mode dishin' & dealin' with this team.
2. Landon Donovan - He was all about control control control, vision vision vision, passing passing passing. What more can you ask for? I wish he would be more ruthless. With LA he never misses a chance to destroy the other team, but here he tries to get everyone involved. Go for the jugular Landon! He scored his 37th all time goal.
1. DaMarcus Beasley - The Jitterbug was busy. He had two goals in the first half after so many misses in the past year plus. And he could have had more in this game. Cuba, like so many teams before them, resorted to kicking him which just makes him angry. Plus his defense on that side is invaluable. He scored his 16th & 17th all time goals.
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 29
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 9
Salt Lake 1-1 New York - RSL goal by Jamison Olave. NYRB goal by Dave van den Bergh.
Attendance: 20,008
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium
-Saturday, October 11
Kansas City 1-0 New England - KCW goal by Jimmy Conrad.
Attendance: 9,488
Venue: CommunityAmerica Ballpark, Kansas City KS
Match report by Randy Covitz of the KC Star.
Match report by Monique Walker of the Boston Globe.
Match report by Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald.
Post game notes and KCW coach & player quotes from Hillcrest Road blog.
Dallas 2-2 Toronto - FCD goals both by Kenny Cooper(1 via PK). TFC goals by Marco Velez & Marvell Wynne.
Attendance: 14,114
Venue: Pizza Hut Park, Frisco TX
Match report by Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News.
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
San Jose 0-1 Chivas - CUSA goal by Justin Braun.
Attendance: 10,502
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara CA
Match report from the San Jose Mercury News.
Match report by Jeff Carlisle of Center Line Soccer.
-Sunday, October 12
Chicago 2-2 Columbus - CF goals both by Brian McBride. CC goals by Eddie Gaven & Guillermo Barros Schelotto.
Attendance: 14,994
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview IL
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match report by Nick Firchau of the Southtown Star.
Match report by Orrin Schwarz of the Daily Herald.
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Post game notes by Arroyave on his blog The Red Card.
Post game notes by Mitchell on his blog Covering The Crew.
Houston 0-0 DC
Attendance: 17,531
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
Match report by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by Chris Webb of United Mania.
Post game notes by Glenn Davis on his blog The Soccer Hour.
Post game quotes by DCU coach & players from Behind The Badge.
Los Angeles 3-2 Colorado - LA goals by Edson Buddle, Ugo Imehelu(OG) & Brandon McDonald. CR goals by Cory Gibbs & Tom McManus(PK).
Attendance: 27,000
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 Graham Jones of the LA Times.
Match report from the Denver Post.
Post game notes by Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer.
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Ejections:
-Juan Pietravallo - New York Red Bulls - Red Card
-Bryan Namoff - DC United - 2 Yellow Cards
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League Standings
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

It's gonna be Chicago v New England in the first round of the playoffs!
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With the club celebrating their 10th anniversary as a team, US Soccer has a video of some current team members and coaches reminiscing about their Fire days. (thanks to Dan for this)
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After serving a one game suspension from his national team on Saturday, defender Gonzalo Segares is off to play for Costa Rica v Haiti on Wednesday.
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Luis Arroyave of the Tribune on his blog The Red Card has a great pic of Blanco doing his patented "bunny hop" against Columbus.
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COLORADO RAPIDS

Kei Kamara got the start for Sierra Leone in their 4-1 loss to Nigeria.
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Rapids Class VI did a Q & A with Raps coach Gary Smith after their loss to Houston last week.
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FC DALLAS

The CBC looks at Jeff Cunningham's success in Big D after a miserable time with Toronto.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with a story on the job Bobby Boswell has done in the Dynamo defense since joining from DC before the season started. (This article ran before this weekends game)
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Fallas with more Dynamo notes.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

How is it that centerback Jimmy Conrad leads this team in goals with 6. Great for him. Terrible for the team.
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And speaking of terrible, their attendance has been nothing to be proud of this year, They move to a little place that holds about 11,000 and have rarely if ever sold out. That is sad. San Jose has done much much better under a similar stadium circumstance. I just don't see how this bodes well for attendance success in a new stadium of their own someday.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Say what you want about Landon Donovan but he went 90 minutes in DC for the USA on Saturday night, then he caught a plane to the opposite coast and was ready to play for LA. He came on as a sub in the 63rd minute and instantly picked his team up a notch. I love the guy.
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Brandon McDonald also came on as a sub and hit a stunning bomber of a goal to win it for LA.
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Goal.com gives us a very rare look inside the teams locker room.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

It's gonna be New England v Chicago in the first round of the playoffs!
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Steve Davis at MLSnet looks at how the Rev's are going to deal with the loss of Steve Ralston.
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Monique Walker of the Boston Globe on the loss of Rally.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Metrofanatic rolls out the Red Bulls playoff scenarios.
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Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer wonders how New York as still alive for the playoffs after their awful run lately.
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The teams managing director answered fan questions on the teams blog Red Bull Reader.
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REAL SALT LAKE

The Salt Lake Tribune on playoff scenarios for RSL.
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Mathias Mantilla did not get a contract offer from De Graafschap in Holland where he had been for a try out.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

The Times of England with a story on the success of Darren Huckerby in MLS.
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Elliott Almond of the Mercury News on the strong commitment to team & family shown by young forward Ryan Johnson. (story ran before the Saturday game)
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TORONTO FC

Kristian Dyer on the past, present and future of Marvell Wynne.
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GENERAL

Chicago Fire forward has been named MLS Player Of The Week.
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The BBC talks to MLS #2 Ivan Gazidis about the business of the league, and how it is growing. (thanks to Mike for this one)
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Steve Davis at ESPN Soccernet with Ten things to note from Week 29.
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Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com with his weekly breakdown of the league.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times on their blog The Fabulous Forum rips ESPN's MLS broadcasts as boring, and ends with a pot shot at Fox Soccer Channel. This from one of the dullest soccer writers in the entire United States.
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MLS Exhibition Matches
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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.
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MLS Golden Boot

19 Landon Donovan
18 Kenny Cooper
14 Edson Buddle
12 Brian Ching
11 Luciano Emilio
11 Juan Pablo Angel
10 Jaime Moreno
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MLS Active Leading Career Goal Scorers

122 Jaime Moreno
114 Ante Razov
104 Jeff Cunningham
98 Taylor Twellman
83 Landon Donovan
82 Carlos Ruiz
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MLS Expansion News

I was talking to a friend the other day about the deadline for applying to join MLS. In my mind it was November 15. But I looked it up today, and it's actually October 15. So who is officially in for the bidding. St Louis, Portland and who else officially?
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USL First Division News

Here are the league's season ending awards:
-Most Valuable Player: Jonathan Steele - Puerto Rico
-Defender of the Year: Cristian Arrieta - Puerto Rico
-Coach of the Year: Colin Clarke - Puerto Rico
-Rookie of the Year: Osvaldo Alonso - Charleston
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Minnesota Thunder

Minnesota Thunder supporters and Blue Sky Soccer handed out two awards last week at their annual post season banquet:
-Player of the Year - Nic Platter - goalkeeper
-Newcomer of the Year - Ricardo Sanchez - midfielder
Also given out was:
-Fan of the Year aka The Jackass of the Year: - Neal Logan aka Lightning Striker
and
-Special Merit Award: Kevin Friedland - Thunder defender - helping coordinate auction items for charity fundraisers year after year.
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USL First Division Playoff Schedule

Final
-Sun Oct 12
Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 Puerto Rico Islanders - VW goals both by Charles Gbeke. PRI goal by Sandy Gbandi.
-I guess your last name had to start with a silent G to score in the game!!!
Match report from USL.
Match report from the Vancouver Province.
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US Soccer News

US Soccer has an article about the senior mens teams history of games at RFK Stadium in Washington DC. (thanks to Brian for this one)
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Jack Bell of the New York Times blog Goal talks to an ESPN exec about broadcasting USA games from places like T&T.
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Americans In Europe

Greg Seltzer at Soccer 365 fills us in on the status of Clarence Goodson at Start in Norway. Turns out Goodson was suffering from a liver ailment.
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The New Jersey traitor known as Giuseppe Rossi made his debut for the Italian senior team on Saturday, but he made no impact as they drew 0-0 in Bulgaria. As someone at a bar said to me on Saturday night, "Wouldn't it be funny if that was his only cap for Italy." We all know he will most likely get plenty more caps, but it was funny none the less.
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I got an insider heads up that a couple of young Americans are getting a look in Europe right now, and a former USA youth international is getting some playing time in Portugal:
-Greg Folk - fullback - former UCLA, and last summer USA U-20 team captain - trial at FC Koln.
-Luc Harrington - forward - former USL-1 Charleston & Portland - trial at Lotte in Regionalliga.
-Omar Persad - forward - former SDSU, USA U-17, and a Jamaica U-20 last year - a regular Lousanense in Portugal Third Division.
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TRANSFER RUMORS

Soccer365's Grapevine says Blackburn & Everton may be interested in Zak Whitbread of Millwall. Cool.
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Americans In Mexico

Andrea Canales of Sideline Views gives us a translation of a panel discussion and interviews from ESPN Deportes about Jose Francisco Torres choosing the USA over Mexico. I love it when Canales does this for us.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Schedule

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 11
Guatemala 0-0 Trinidad & Tobago
USA 6-1 Cuba
Jamaica 1-0 Mexico
Honduras 3-1 Canada
Haiti 0-0 El Salvador
Surinam 1-4 Costa Rica
-Wed Oct 15
Trinidad & Tobago v USA
Cuba v Guatemala
Jamaica v Honduras
Canada v Mexico
El Salvador v Surinam
Costa Rica v Haiti
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Group Standings after 4 of 6 matches:
A
*12 USA
5 Guatemala
5 Trinidad & Tobago
0 Cuba
B
9 Honduras
9 Mexico
4 Jamaica
1 Canada
C
*12 Costa Rica
7 El Salvador
2 Haiti
1 Suriname
* Advanced to The Hexagon.
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Canada & CSA News

With the loss in Honduras, Canada has been eliminated from World Cup qualifying. Yes they were in a very difficult group, but with the talent and experience they have this should not be happening. I was even thinking they just might have a chance to make the World Cup. Damn.
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Dale Mitchell should never have had the head coaches job to begin with, but he should be summarily fired now.
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Stephen Brunt of the Toronto Globe & Mail gives Canada the last rights.
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Ben Knight also of the G & M, on their blog On Soccer, wants Canadian Soccer Association leveled and begun anew.
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Gareth Wheeler of the Toronto Sun is upset about both a Penalty called against TFC on Saturday night, and the state of the Canadian national team.
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Jason De Vos of the CBC on Canadian failings.
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Mexico & FMF News

Suddenly it's 2 losses in a row for the almighty Sven Goren Eriksson. A few weeks ago a B-team lost to Chile in LA, and now the loss in Kingston. If they don't pulverize Canada on Wednesday in Edmonton Sven will be in big big trouble!
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Billy Witz of the New York Times looks at Eriksson's run so far. (This was posted before the loss on Saturday.)
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Captain Rafa Marquez is suspended for Wednesday's game due to Yellow Card accumulation.
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South American News

The stars, Kaka, Robinho(2) & Adriano, got the goals for Brazil on Saturday night.
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While Lio Messi & Kun Aguero got Argentina's goal. On the other hand Juan Roman Riquelme & Carlos Tevez were both booked yet again and will have to sit out the next match.
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Tim Vickery of the BBC on the lost Colombians, and the new star from Bolivia.
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CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 11
Argentina 2-1 Uruguay
Bolivia 3-0 Peru
Colombia 0-1 Paraguay
-Sun Oct 12
Ecuador 1-0 Chile
Venezuela 0-4 Brazil
-Tue Oct 14
Bolivia v Uruguay
-Wed Oct 15
Brazil v Colombia
Chile v Argentina
Paraguay v Peru
Venezuela v Ecuador
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England News

John Terry & Ashley Cole are both out of Wednesday's World Cup qualifier in Belarus, due to injury.
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The FA is looking into allegations of match fixing in a Championship Division game. No other details are known.
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In a complete turn around The Telegraph now see use for Beckman in the England team. They are right on the money, and left the pettiness aside. And the crowd loved him as usual.
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The Telegraph gives Don Fabio credit for building his teams, fixing mistakes and putting them on a track to get business done.
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The Times says Czech & West Brom forward Roman Bednar proclaims himself to be better than C Ronaldo. Is he all talk?
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The Times also talks to Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher about his undying passion for the game.
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The Times tries to get to the meaning of fans booing the England team even when they win.
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Simon Kuper of the Financial Times on WAGs, and big money investors of the Premier League.
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The Observer looks at the great early season success of coach Phil Brown and his Hull City team.
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European News

GERMANY

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian on forward Lukas Podalski who seems to be useless for Bayern and brilliant for Germany. Why is that?
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Forward Kevin Kuranyi was not selected for the game day roster on Saturday, so he walked away from the team and sent some of his bobo's to the team hotel to collect his belongings. So long buddy, don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.
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ITALY

After yet another bought of fan violence in Bulgaria this weekend, Italy has self-imposed a travel ban on all Italian fans to away matches. Those few "fans" who keep doing this crap are idiots, but good for their FA for putting in some systems to try and stop it. Italy were held to a scoreless draw by the Bulgarians.
-Football Italia tells us what happened in Sofia.
-Paolo Bandini of the Guardian looks at the fan violence in Sofia.
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SPAIN

Phil Ball of ESPN Soccernet looks at Spain's continued success in qualifiers.
-Did you know that David Villa has scored 22 goals in 39 international appearances. Amazing.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports says Spain is definitely the team to beat in Europe.
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OTHERS

The Independent of Ireland with a story on a once great player and his decent into total obscurity.
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UEFA World Cup Qualifying

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 11
Belgium 2-0 Armenia
Bulgaria 0-0 Italy
Denmark 3-0 Malta
England 5-1 Kazakhstan
Estonia 0-3 Spain
Faroe Islands 1-1 Austria
Finland 1-0 Azerbaijan
Georgia 1-1 Cyprus
Germany 2-1 Russia
Greece 3-0 Moldova
Hungary 2-0 Albania
Luxembourg 1-3 Israel
Netherlands 2-0 Iceland
Poland 2-1 Czech Republic
Romania 2-2 France
San Marino 1-3 Slovakia
Scotland 0-0 Norway
Serbia 3-0 Lithuania
Slovenia 2-0 Northern Ireland
Sweden 0-0 Portugal
Switzerland 2-1 Latvia
Turkey 2-1 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Ukraine 0-0 Croatia
Wales 2-0 Liechtenstein
-Wed Oct 15
Austria v Serbia
Belarus v England
Belgium v Spain
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Armenia
Croatia v Andorra
Czech Republic v Slovenia
Estonia v Turkey
Georgia v Bulgaria
Germany v Wales
Greece v Switzerland
Iceland v Macedonia
Ireland v Cyprus
Italy v Montenegro
Latvia v Israel
Lithuania v Faroe Islands
Luxembourg v Moldova
Malta v Hungary
N Ireland v San Marino
Norway v Netherlands
Portugal v Albania
Russia v Finland
Slovakia v Poland
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World News

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at World Cup qualifying action, on and off the field, from all around the world over the weekend.
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The New York Times with an article on home field advantage which they figure is more prominent in soccer than any other sport. I think that's a nice theory, but.... really?
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Jack Warner/Sepp Blatter/FIFA Idiocy & Scandal News

The Independent looks at the positive things FIFA could be doing instead of all the half-baked power-hungry crap we normally hear from them.
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African News

The Observer says South Africa will easily be the worst World Cup host team of all time.
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Africa World Cup Qualifying

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 11
Botswana 0-1 Mozambique
Cameroon 5-0 Mauritius
Cote d'Ivoire 3-0 Madagascar
Gabon 1-0 Libya
Ghana 3-0 Lesotho
Liberia 0-0 Algeria
Malawi 2-1 Congo DR
Mali 2-1 Chad
Morocco 4-1 Mauritania
Namibia 4-2 Zimbabwe
Nigeria 4-1 Sierra Leone
Senegal 1-1 Gambia
Sudan 2-0 Congo
Tanzania 3-1 Cape Verde Islands
Togo 6-0 Swaziland
Tunisia 5-0 Seychelles
-Sun Oct 12
Angola 3-1 Niger
Burundi 1-3 Burkina Faso
Guinea 3-2 Kenya
Uganda 2-1 Benin
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So here are the 12 group winners who advance to the final stage of qualifying:
Algeria
Benin
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Côte d'Ivoire
Egypt
Ghana
Guinea
Mali
Morocco
Nigeria
Zambia
-And the 8 best second place teams join them
Gabon
Kenya
Malawi
Mozambique
Rwanda
Sudan
Togo
Tunisia
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Qualifying notes:
-They will play in 5 groups of 4 teams, with home and away matches.
-The date of the draw for the groups has yet to be announced.
-In the end the 5 winners of these groups will go to the World Cup, along with host nation South Africa.
-The 2 biggest surprises to be eliminated from qualifying were Angola and Senegal.
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Middle Eastern News

FIFA.com has a Q & A with Egyptian star striker Amr Zaki who is quickly becoming a hero at Wigan in the English Premiership.
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Asia World Cup Qualifying

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Oct 15
Australia v Qatar
Iran v N Korea
Japan v Uzbekistan
S Korea v United Arab Emirates