Piper For Peace News

Barcelona team president Joan Laporta will be in Miami on Wednesday to officially launch a bid for a MLS team. This is coming directly from the teams website. Barca would partner with the person who owns the club Bolivar in Bolivia. They would play there games at Florida International University. See more in the MLS Expansion section. (thanks to Nick for the heads up)

~and~

LA rookie midfielder Brandon McDonald on his first ever MLS goal: "I just crushed it." See details in the Los Angeles Galaxy section.

~and~

Cuba has fired coach Reinhold Fanz after their 6-1 loss to the USA on Saturday. Really? That was a bad result for them? What did they think would happen? At least the scored a goal.


Team USA

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Oct 15
Trinidad & Tobago v USA - live at 7pm central on ESPN
Venue: Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain, Trinidad
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By the way, the 3rd USA goal in the Cuba game that was scored by Landon Donovan came after a series of 19 passes! Not bad.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer has audio interviews with coach & players after Monday practice. Download or listen to here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jen Chang of ESPN Soccernet ponders the idea of DaMarcus Beasley at left fullback (that again?) and what lineup we might see on Wednesday night.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise calls Jose Francisco Torres the new wave of American soccer player. New wave? Like Flock of Seagulls or Duran Duran?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Torres did a video interview with ESPN Deportes and Andrea Canales translates it for us at Sideline Views.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger looks at the growing question of potential USA players with duel citizenship.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Trinidad Express talks to T&T captain Dwight Yorke about their big match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The T&T Guardian talks to USA coach Bob Bradley, plus Frankie Hejduk and DaMarcus Beasley about the match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Official Team Blog
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here is who I would love to see start for the USA in T&T:
Guzan
Wynne Califf Orozco Pearce
Kljestan Edu Torres Beasley
Altidore Adu
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Scoreboard

Week 30
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Oct 15
Houston v San Jose - 8pm central on Direct Kick
-Thu Oct 16
DC v New England - 6:30pm central on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

League Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Tribune on his blog The Red Card talks to defender CJ Brown who has gone through an injury filled season, and says he wants to play for the team again next year. And you really don't want to miss out on the picture that accompanies this post.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CD CHIVAS USA

That is 4 wins in a row for the Amerigoats!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLORADO RAPIDS

Our pal George Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News blog FC Rocky hands out his Rapids post season awards, two weeks (at least) early.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Diego Aparicio of the Morning News reports that the teams home attendance dropped by more than 2000 a game this year compared to last. Brutal. The team says a big reason was that too many of their games were on TV. They have big troubles in Frisco.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Glenn Davis of the Chronicle believes the Dynamo should be getting a whole lot more attention as they line up a run at an unheard of 3 MLS Cup wins in a row.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Chronicle with some team notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

The official Galaxy blog has video of midfielder Brandon McDonald talking about his superbomb goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

Michael C Lewis of the Tribune looks at who stands between RSL and the post season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Center Line Soccer does a Q & A with team owner Lew Wolff about the plans for a stadium. One big thing he mentions is "no luxury boxes." So this is minor league to him then? I think they have the wrong owner if that is the case.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times blog Goal on Tottenham's new partnership with the EQuakes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Morgan Campbell of the Star sees some positive changes in TFC the past 2 games. Where did it come from?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider with his weekly look at the league - The Good, The Bad, and The Coyote Ugly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters with an article on former Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit who says that MLS & US Soccer executives are intentionally holding down growth of the sport in America because they don't want to embarrass traditionally popular American sports. Hahahahahahaha. He is even dumber then I thought he was. He makes several others statements as well, some that we all know about, and others on topics he should have known about before taking a job here, so that’s on him.
-Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star says Gullit's comments are laughable. (Second half of article).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Exhibition Matches

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.
-A little match preview from the official FCD blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Player Of The Year

Here are our ranked candidates:
1. Guillermo Barros Schelotto
2. Landon Donovan
3. Steve Ralston
4. Alejandro Moreno
5. Kenny Cooper
6. Javier Morales
7. Shalrie Joseph
8. Juan Pablo Angel
9. Brian Ching
10. Matt Reis
11. William Hesmer
12. Dwayne DeRosario
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Manager Of The Year

Here are our ranked candidates:
1. Sigi Schmid
2. Preki
3. Dominic Kinnear
4. Steve Nicol
5. Frank Yallop
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

The Examiner says Seattle is chasing after former Arsenal great Freddie Ljungberg. I hope they don't pay very much for him cuz he is not going to sell tickets.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Expansion News

Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald with more on the Barcelona plan to start a new MLS team in Miami.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Marketwire reports that Ottawa officially make their MLS bid today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze looks at what the Mexican-American player influence can do for US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives talks to Michael Bradley about his new club Monchengladbach.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Seltzer at Soccer 365 talks to little known Etchu Tabe who was formerly a forward and has been converted to centerback by his Swedish club Ljungskile.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Canada & CSA News

Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail blog On Soccer tries to explain what is wrong with the Canadian Soccer Association.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South American News

Tim Vickery of Sports Illustrated talks about professional re-birth with Brazil & Inter Milan forward Adriano.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Juan Roman Riquelme of Argentina is suspended for their game on Wed in Chile due to Yellow Card accumulation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Everton manager David Moyes has signed a 5 year contract extension.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And former Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan has filed a 9 Million Pound lawsuit against the team for "unfair dismissal."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Telegraph talks to defender Rio Ferdinand who calls life in the Sven Goren Eriksson regime "a circus."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul Doyle of the Guardian takes a trip down memory lane with Liverpool great Ian Rush. Who looks like a member of the band Rush.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kevin McCarra of the Guardian looks at Beckman's acceptance of being a role player in the English national team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Telegraph reports that Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko has won election for a seat on the regional council back home in Russia.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Telegraph also looks at the Brazilian influence slowly leaking into the Premiership.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

ITALY

Football Italia accuse Juventus of being all about dreams, without taking any actions to fulfill them.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After receiving 2 Yellow Cards and being sent off in a match against Siena last week Roma defender Phillipe Mexes insulted the referee and has been given an additional 3 game suspension.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SPAIN

Atletico Madrid will have to play their next 2 home Champions League games at a neutral venue with now home support allowed, as punishment for their fans violence against Marseille fans.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

OTHERS

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian tells us that a new manager and new attitude are reviving the football fortune of Slovenia, a country of only 2 million people. Do you know where the country is located? I had to look it up to be sure - wedged between Italy, Austria, Hungary, Croatia and the Adriatic Sea. The capital city is Ljubljana, which is home to the legendary underground rock band Laibach.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

African News

The draw for the final round of World Cup qualifying will take place on Oct 22.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Asian News

Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated with an article on Australian ace striker Archie Thompson.