Play The Game Of Life News

With New York losing last night that means that Kansas City has secured a playoff spot either 4th in the East or a Wild Card spot.


MLS Scoreboard

Week 31
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 23
**Chicago 5-1 New York - CF goals by Chris Rolfe(3), Brian McBride & Daniel Woolard. NYRB goals by Juan Pablo Angel & Bakary Soumare(OG).
Attendance: 13,274
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview IL
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match report by Nick Firchau of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Match report by Orrin Schwarz of Chicago's Daily Herald.
Match report from Metrofanatic.
Match report by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Match report by Dylan Butler of Soccer by Ives.
Match report by Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
Post game analysis by Michael Lewis.
Post game audio interviews with Red Bull coach & players from the teams official blog.
-Sat Oct 25
**New England v Kansas City - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
**Colorado v Salt Lake - 8:30pm central on HDNet
Venue: Dick's Sporting Good Park, Commerce City CO
Match preview by Brian Forbes of the Denver Post.
Match preview by James Edward of the Deseret News.
San Jose v Toronto - 9pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara CA
Match preview from Center Line Soccer.
Chivas v Houston - 9:30pm central on FSC
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
-Sun Oct 26
Los Angeles v Dallas - 2pm central on TeleFutura
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
**Columbus v DC - 4pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Crew Stadium, Columbus OH

**these 4 games have big playoff implications
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Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet previews the weekends games/teams that have playoff connections.
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Steve Davis of MLSnet gives us his insight into the upcoming playoffs. Good Stuff.
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League Standings
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

By virtue of their big win last night the Fire has clinched 2nd place in the East and will host the 2nd game of the home away with New England.
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Luis Arroyave on his blog the Red Card, Chris Rolfe had this to say about last nights game: He loves the cold weather! And I think the Fire likes playing on ESPN2 quite a bit too, they have been on 6 times this season with 5 wins and 1 loss. Now they get two games against New England both on Thursday.
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CD CHIVAS USA

The team has awarded midfielder Sasha Kljestan their Most Valuable Player honor, and Paulo Nagamura as their Defender Of The Year.
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COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch talks to coach Sigi Schmidt about the playoff race.
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FC DALLAS

Pablo Ricchetti will not play this weekend as he is serving the first of a two game Red Card suspension. On top of this game, he will also sit out the first game of the 09 season due to the severity of the foul committed.
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And Marcelo Saragosa will not play this weekend as he is serving a one game suspension for two Yellow Cards in the game last weekend.
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FCD will not see a change at the top. President Michael Hitchcock told reporters that he and the team have reached an agreement for another year on his contract.

Glenn Davis in his notes on his blog The Soccer Hour today gives us some info on how much FCD coach Schellas Hyndemann is getting paid. (scroll down a bit)

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Kei Kamara will not play this weekend as he is serving the second of a two game suspension for a straight Red Card.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

With NYRB losing last night the Wiz have qualified for the playoffs! Congrats to all! Now who will they play, Houston or Columbus? Who would you rather face? Me? I would take Columbus, they are not battle tested like Houston are.
-I took an informal survey of the several KC fans that I am in contact with and the surprising consensus by a 66% to 33% margin was Houston! Go figure.
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Greg Seltzer at Soccer 365 talks to Claudio Lopez about his first year in MLS.
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Looks like Josh Wolff, one of the players who helped the team turn the season around, will be out of action for the playoffs. He has a stress fracture in his leg and needs rest. Maybe, just maybe he can still play through the pain.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Ives Galarcep at ESPN Soccernet feels the Beckman loan deal is all wrong.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

The loss last night means that they will have to wait until everyone else has played this weekend to find out if they make the playoffs or so. In other words, they still have a chance to do what my brother likes to refer to as "They Vikingsed their way into the playoffs".
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REAL SALT LAKE

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune talks to Clint Mathis about what it would mean for this club to make the playoffs.
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TORONTO FC

John Molinaro of the CBC says TFC losing midfielder Carl Robinson in the January transfer window would be a big loss. I disagree. Outside of a few plays during his two years in the center of the park for TFC I have seen him have very little impact on the games. He may be steady, but he will not help them get over the hump.
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When the season ends there will be an expansion draft to begin filling out Seattle's roster. Jason de Vos also of the CBC looks at who the players are that TFC should protect from that draft. Kevin Harmse? Are you kidding me man? Did you pick him because you HAD to pick 11 and couldn't find anyone else worthy. I'd make up a name before I put him on my list.
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The County Times in Wales looks at the contract situation of their local boy Carl Robinson.
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And Robinson files his weekly column for that same paper back home.
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GENERAL

Greg Lalas at Goal.com on the MLS v EPL debate.
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Chros McDougall at Not Short Corners preview the 4 game this weekend that have meaning. (Sorry but I posted this a day late for last nights game.)
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News says that as the January transfer window approaches, more teams are showing interest in Kenny Cooper.
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MLS Expansion News

The MLS Philly 2010 website posted an interview they did with team exec Nick Sakiewicz on development of the new stadium etc etc. There has been rumors bouncing around that this team is in deep financial trouble, but considering the main source of that story, its hardly likely.
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Dave Zirin on his site Edge of Sports fills us in on who is behind the bid for MLS in Portland. It is Merritt Paulson who already owns the team, along with his father Henry Paulson, none other than the current US Treasury Secretary.
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Hey you! Do you want to try out for the Seattle Sounders? They are having open tryouts in a couple of weeks. So get your old Copa's off the dusty shelf and do some keepy uppies to warm up. You can't be any worse than their centerback Taylor Graham.
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USL First Division News

Minnesota Thunder

Our own left fullback Kevin Friedland will be suiting up for FC Dallas this Sunday in their reserve match against Los Angeles. Current FCD coach Schellas Hydemann was Friedland's college coach at SMU. Awesome!
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US Soccer News

Mike Woitalla of Soccer America reports that Neven Subotic is NOT eligible to play for the German national team. So there is still a chance he could suit up for Team USA.
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Andrea Canales of Goal.com looks at the where the next batch of US national team players will come from.
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Soccer In America

Mike Woitalla of Soccer America talks to US Soccer president Suni Gulati about world economics and football. In his real life Gulati teaches econ at Columbia University.
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Americans In Europe

Goal.com report that Standard Liege is going to offer Oguchi Onyewu a contract extension.
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Greg Seltzer at Soccer 365 with an article on Charlie Davies and his outstanding season with Hammarby.
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Seltzer also talks to former Minnesota Thunder full back Kyle Zenoni who is headed to Belgium and maybe Germany for try outs.
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MOST RECENT MATCHES

-Thu Oct 23
Americans In UEFA Cup:
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - in the net as they beat Ajax at home 2-1.
-Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - on the bench for their 2-1 home win over Ajax.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard Liege - no match this round
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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
Cruz Azul 2-0 DC United - CA goals by Nicolas Vigneri & Pablo Zeballos.
Venue: Estadio Azul, Mexico City DF
Joe Public 0-2 Atlante - Atl goals by Ismael Valadez & Gabriel Pereyra.
Venue: Marvin Lee Stadium, Tunapuna Trinidad & Tobago
-Wed Oct 22
Houston Dynamo 1-3 UNAM Pumas - HD goal by Marco Antonio Palacios(OG). UNAM goals by Juan Carlos Cacho(PK), Fernando Espinoza & Marco Antonio Palacios.
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
San Francisco 2-3 Luis Angel Firpo - SF goals by Temistocles Perez & Eduardo Jimenez. LAF goals by Dennis Alas, Christian Sanchez & Patricio Gomez.
Venue: Estadio Agustin Sanchez, La Chorrera Panama
Santos Laguna 2-0 Tauro - SL goals both by Christian Benitez.
Venue: Estadio Corona, Torreon COA
-Thu Oct 23
Puerto Rico Islanders 0-1 Municipal - Muni goal by Giovany Acevedo.
Venue: Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium, Bayamon PR
POSTPONED DUE TO FLOODING Marathon v Saprissa - no new date has been set yet.

Standings (games played):
Group A
10 Cruz Azul (5)
7 Saprissa (4)
7 Marathon (4)
% 1 DC (5)
Group B
9 UNAM Pumas (5)
7 Firpo (4)
5 Houston (4)
% 2 San Francisco (5)
Group C
* 11 Montreal (5)
* 8 Atlante (5)
5 Olimpia (5)
% 3 Joe Public (5)
Group D
9 Santos Laguna (5)
7 Puerto Rico (5)
7 Tauro (5)
5 Municipal (5)
* Advanced
% Elimidated
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England News

The BBC with an article on the great Egyptian striker at Wigan, Amr Zaki, and how he has been so underrated until now.
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The Independent with an article on Zaki now too. All aboard.
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The Telegraph has an article with a Bolton team exec saying that the Premiership structure needs an overhaul.
-But the head of the Premier League says that this is not a road that needs traversing.
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The Telegraph also has an article on Dutch legends of the past Johann Cryuff & Dennis Bergkamp and star in the making Robin Van Persie get together to build a field for the youth of inner city London. And then they do what they do best - talk Total Football. Good stuff.
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And one last one from the Telegraph, and this is something no one wants to see, some in the English government want to step in and force the two Americans who own Liverpool to sell the team.
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The Times talks to former Tottenham great David Ginola who says he knows how to fix this disaster of a club. It seems like Ginola is trolling for a job if you ask me.
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European News

GENERAL

James Lawton of the Independent raves about the "artistry" of guys like Lionel Messi and Cesc Fabregas.
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SCOTLAND

Ewan Murray of the Guardian says the Old Firm put so much emphasis on beating each others brains out that the rest of their future is drifting away.
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SPAIN

The Independent with an article on El Kun, Atletico Madrid's fantastic Sergio Aguero! The son in law of Diego Maradona, in case you did not know that.
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UEFA Cup

32 teams kicked off the Group Stage Matchday 1 yesterday. Here are those results.
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Matchday 2 is Thu Nov 6.
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Big Club Matches Around The World This Week

England Premiership
-Sat Oct 25
Sunderland v Newcastle - the Tyne-Wear derby
-Sun Oct 26
Chelsea v Liverpool - the 2 big teams at the top of the table go head to head
West Ham v Arsenal - a lesser London derby (one of many)
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Denmark SAS Ligaen
-Sun Oct 26
Copenhagen v Odense - #2 v #1
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France Ligue Un
-Sun Oct 26
Olympique Marseille v Paris St Germain - a very old & bitter rivalry
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Germany Bundesliga
-Fri Oct 24
Bayer Leverkusen v Koln - the Rhine derby.
-Sun Oct 26
Hoffenheim v Hamburg - the surprise #2 v #1
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Italy Serie A
-Sat Oct 25
Juventus v Torino - the Turin derby
-Sun Oct 26
Lazio v Napoli - its like an 80's classic
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Spain La Liga
-Sun Oct 26
Villarreal v Atletico Madrid - are they really contenders or just pretenders
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Mexico Primera
-Sun Oct 26
America v Guadalajara - El Classico, the biggest North American derby
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Russia Premier League
-Mon Oct 27
Dinamo Moscow v CSKA Moscow - a Moscow derby pitting #3 v #2
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African News

The AP is reporting that with under a year to go Nigeria has backed out of hosting next summers U17 World Cup. They do not have the money to pull it off. Mexico who was scheduled to host in 2011 has stepped forward and offered to host. Who knows what will happen. Is this any king of harbinger for South Africa? I doubt it, yet I can't help but wonder. FIFA has nothing about this on their website. Via the Rocky Mountain News.