The Question Is Moot News

Could it possibly be true? Diego Maradona will be named coach of the Argentine national team today? Really? I assumed it was a joke. From the Buenos Aires Herald.

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Maradona's 1st day of training: "OK everyone! Gather 'round. Down on one knee. First of all, Welcome. Now, is your cocaine, so we can go run around like maniacs for 15 or 20 minutes until the buzz wears off and we need to crash a bit. After that we will practice putting the ball in the net with our hands. Lionel, you can sit that one out since you seem to have perfected it already. Then we will conclude today's lesson with a talk on comradeship from brother Fidel."

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The Houston Dynamo reserve team went in place of the regulars down to play Luis Angel Firpo in the CONCACAF Champions League last night and came away with a 1-1 draw. They had the lead and controled the game until very late when goalkeeper Tony Caig had yet another mistake and cost them 2 points and advancement. They now have to win on the last matchday (a make up date) on Nov 26 in Houston when they play the same Firpo team who only needs a draw to advance. See more in the CCL section.


MLS Scoreboard

Playoff Schedule
Quarterfinals - 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 30
New England v Chicago - 6:30pm central on ESPN2
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
-Sat Nov 1
New York v Houston - 4pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
Salt Lake v Chivas - 5pm central on FSC
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy UT
Kansas City v Columbus - 7pm central on HDNet
Venue: Community America Ballpark, Kansas City KS
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The Dallas Morning News with a playoff preview.
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Tribune feels like it might be "do it NOW or start over next season" for the Fire in the postseason.
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Orrin Schwarz of the Daily Herald says the Fire are certainly not going to take the Rev's lightly even with the massive amounts of injuries and suspensions.
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CD CHIVAS USA

Ivan Orozco of the San Diego Union Tribune with an article on the amazing Claudio Suarez. Is he set to retire after this season ends? Ah, no!
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COLUMBUS CREW

Michael Arace of the Dispatch talks to Crew owner Clark Hunt about a new investor in the team, and that rumor of them moving to Vegas.
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DC UNITED

-A preamble to the following article.
Steven Goff of the Washington Post reviews the season ended, the theme being "what went wrong".
-Goff finishes it all off with a player by player assessment.
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Craig Stouffer of the DC Examiner has a 5 part DCU season review on his blog The Pitch.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Goal.com has a Q & A with Houston manager Dominic Kinnear.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Randy Covitz of the Star with an article on the teams big dollar player Claudio Lopez, who until recently was not earning his pay. Can he lift them to glory now??
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Grahame Jones of the Times writes about the likely full body overhaul that will go down in Galaxyland this off season.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Monique Walker of the Globe writes about the Rev's series with the Fire without Taylor Twellman.
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The Attleboro Sun Times in Massachuesetts looks at the absolute frustration the Rev's are facing as the playoffs begin.
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REAL SALT LAKE

Michael C Lewis of the Tribune and James Edward of the Deseret News both say the team are hungry for playoff success, and not just satisfied to have 2 more games on the schedule.
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Lewis also examines the journey of Jason Kries as coach of this team.
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TORONTO FC

The team has named midfielder Carl Robinson as their MVP (shows what I know), and Marvell Wynne as their Defender of the Year.
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The TFC website has video of coach John Carver addressing media questions now that the season is officially over.
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GENERAL

The MLS Cup trophy is all new this year and has been re-named the Phillip Anschutz trophy. The new trophy looks much classier than the old one.
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Beau Dure of USA Today gives us his MLS post season awards list.
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Cafu to MLS?
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MLS Seattle Expansion News

If I ran the Seattle Sounders I would ask New England for permission to speak with Steve Nicol about becoming their first head coach.
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The Seattle Post Intelligencer and the Seattle Times on the press conference introducing Freddie Ljungberg.
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Video from the introductory press conference.
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Sports Illustrated with an article saying Ljungberg will have a bigger impact on MLS than Beckman. What is the criteria? Because if we are talking marketing then 1000 Freddie Ljungberg will not have as big an impact as 1 Beckman. On the field he will have to be a pretty good player to top Beckman, who was decent.
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MLS Expansion News

Bloomberg tells us about George Gillett's financial interest in taking the Montreal Impact to MLS.
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Soccer In America

The Toronto Globe & Mail reports that TFC owners MLSE are in negotiations to buy GolTV. But less than 2 years ago RSL owner Dave Checketts tried to do the same thing and Major League Soccer shut the deal down. What happens this time?
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Americans In Europe

Jozy Atlidore with his first blog post in a long time for the NY Times Goal. He is getting his first start today in the Copa del Rey!
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Anyone know the whereabouts of Bobby Convey? It has been quite a while since he saw the field for Reading, and I have heard nothing about any injuries.
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Frank Simek made his season debut last night in a 0-1 home loss to Plymouth. He came on as a substitute in the 57th minute. He had been out of action since last spring with a serious ankle injury. This is such great news for him.
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Jay DeMerit is also back from injury and went the full 90 for Watford last night.
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UPCOMING MATCHES

Wed Oct 29
-Freddie Adu - Monaco v Nancy Lorraine
-Jozy Altidore - Villarreal at Polideportivo Ejido - Copa Del Rey
-Bryan Arguez - Hertha Berlin v Hannover
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich v Koblenz
-Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes at Valenciennes
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby v Halmstad
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham v Wigan
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa v Blackburn
-Brad Guzan - Aston Villa v Blackburn
-Tim Howard - Everton at Bolton
-Lee Nguyen - Randers at Horsens - Danish Landspokal (League Cup)
-Ryan Raybould - Gefle at Kalmar
-Neven Subotic - Borussia Dortmund at Koln
-Matt Taylor - Koblenz at 1860 Munich
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus at Odense - Danish Landspokal (League Cup)
-David Yelldell - Koblenz at 1860 Munich
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MOST RECENT MATCHES
(only players who made the field are listed)

Tue Oct 28
-Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - started and went 58 minutes in a 3-0 loss at Wolfsburg.
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - played all 90 in goal but lost 1-3 at home against Malmo.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - went the full 90 in a 2-0 road loss at Preston.
-Maurice Edu - Rangers - went the full 90 in a League Cup (not FA Cup) match and they won 2-0 at home over Hamilton.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went the distance as always but lost 1-0 at Burnley.
-Eddie Johnson - Cardiff - came on as a sub in the 79th minute and they won 2-0 at home over Blackpool.
-Jemal Johnson - MK Dons - came on as a 76th minute sub and they won 1-2 at Leyton Orient.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - finally back on the pitch as a 57th minute sub but they lost 0-1 at home to Plymouth.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - played all 90, got a Yellow Card, and lost 1-3 at home against Malmo.
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - started but was subbed off at halftime, and the team went on to win 1-0 at home over Hereford.
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CONCACAF Champions League

Official CCL website
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Matchday 6
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 28
Firpo 1-1 Houston - LAF goal by Fernando Leguizamon. HD goal by Stuart Holden.
Match report (a short one) from the Houston Chronicle.
Post game notes from Glenn Davis on his blog The Soccer Hour.
Olimpia 4-0 Joe Public - Oli goals by Allan Kardeck Dos Santos(2), Oscar Boniek Garcia & Nestor Fabian Silva.
Atlante 2-1 Montreal - Atl goals by Gabriel Pereyra & Clemente Ovalle. MI goal by Joey Gjertsen.
-Wed Oct 29
Pumas v San Francisco
DC v Marathon
Match preview by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Saprissa v Cruz Azul
Tauro v Puerto Rico
-Thu Oct 30
Municipal v Santos Laguna
-Wed Nov 5
Marathon v Saprissa
-Wed Nov 26
Houston v Firpo
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Standings (games played):
Group A
10 Cruz Azul (5)
7 Saprissa (4)
7 Marathon (4)
% 1 DC (5)
Group B
9 UNAM Pumas (5)
8 Firpo (5)
6 Houston (5)
% 2 San Francisco (5)
Group C
* 11 Montreal (6)
* 11 Atlante (6)
% 8 Olimpia (6)
% 3 Joe Public (6)
Group D
9 Santos Laguna (5)
7 Puerto Rico (5)
7 Tauro (5)
5 Municipal (5)
* Advanced
% Elimidated
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Canada & CSA News

Ben Knight on the Toronto Globe & Mail blog On Soccer sees the CSA hit a new low even for them. Stunning.
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South American News

Even Al Jazeera carries the glorious news on Maradona.
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Tim Vickery at the BBC tells us what he thinks of the Maradona move.
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Reuters with a story on the real Ronaldo who talks about rehabbing his damaged knee. He says "I couldn't have got any fatter." Hahahahahaha. Now he has to find a team that wants him. He wants to play for Brazil again too.
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Big Club Matches Around The World This Mid-Week

England Premiership
-Wed Oct 29
Hull v Chelsea - the two teams tied for 2nd place, one a contender, the other a shocker.
Arsenal v Tottenham - the biggest London derby.
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Italy Serie A
-Wed Oct 29
Fiorentina v Inter Milan - one team would like to get close to the league title, and the other demands it.
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Netherlands Eredivisie
-Wed Oct 29
Sparta v Feyenoord - the Rotterdam derby.
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Brazil Brasileiro
-Wed Oct 29
Cruzeiro v Gremio - #2 v #1.
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World News

Nigeria has now stepped forward again and says they CAN host the U17 World Cup next summer. Only 2 weeks ago they told FIFA that they could not afford to host. No word from FIFA yet on what they plan to do.