Red Hot Mamma News

Just want to give readers a heads up that I am going to be in LA for the MLS Cup final the weekend of Nov 23. Let me know if you are planning on being there, cuz I would love to plan a get together!

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DC United got a very positive result in Costa Rica last night, drawing 2-2 at the Purple Monster of Saprissa in the CCL. DCU played a team of mostly reserves, as they try to save their MLS season from ruin.


CONCACAF Champions League News

Official CCL website
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Matchday 4 Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 7
Cruz Azul 1-1 Marathon - CA goal by Javier Orozco. Mara goal by Erick Norales.
Houston Dynamo 2-1 San Francisco - HD goals by Chris Wondolowski & Dwayne De Rosario. SF goal by .
-Wed Oct 8
Joe Public 1-4 Montreal - JP goal by Kerry Noray. MI goals by Tony Donatelli(2), Rocco Placentino & Peter Byers.
Olimpia 1-1 Atlante - Oli goal by Walter Joel Castro. Atl goal by Federico Vilar.
Municipal 2-2 Tauro - Muni goals Juan Carlos Plata by & Mario Acevedo. Taur goals by Edwin Aguilar & Luis Fernando Esobar.
Santos Laguna 3-0 Puerto Rico Islanders - SL goals by Oribe Peralta, Andony Hernandez & Agustin Herrera.
-Thu Oct 9
Luis Angel Firpo 1-1 UNAM Pumas - LAF goal by Mauricio Quintanilla. UNAM goal by Martin Bravo.
Saprissa 2-2 DC United - Sap goals both by Cesar Elizondo. DCU goals by Grandpa Doe & Rod Dyachenko.
Match report by Mike Martin of United Mania.
Match report from the Washington Post.
Post game notes and DCU player ratings by Steve Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider.
Post game DCU coach & player quotes from Behind The Badge.
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Well, DC finally got a goal and a point in this first edition of the CCL. It's truly amazing to think that they went to Saprissa and pulled this off with a team made up almost entirely of reserves (only Gonzalo Martinez of the regulars started)! Fantastic job. It didn't hurt that Saprissa missed a Penalty Kick either. DC coach Tom Soehn got kicked out of the game, and will miss the next match.
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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, Sandy UT
Match report by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret News.
Match report from Big Apple Soccer
Player Ratings for RSL by Dan Rasmussen on the Tribune RSL blog.
Post game notes & NYRB player ratings by Jack Bell of the New York Times blog Goal.
Post game analysis by Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives.
-Saturday, October 11
Kansas City v New England - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Community American Ballpark, Kansas City KS
Dallas v Toronto - 7:30pm central on FSC
Venue: Pizza Hut Park, Frisco TX
San Jose v Chivas - 9pm central on HDNet
Venue: Buck Shaw Stadium, Santa Clara CA
Match preview from Center Line Soccer.
-Sunday, October 12
Chicago v Columbus - 2pm central on TeleFutura
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview IL
Houston v DC - 6pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
Los Angeles v Colorado - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
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Ejections:
-Juan Pietravallo - New York - Red Card
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My notes on RSL-NYRB:
-While the event was very memorable, the match was not. Frantic is the one word I would use to describe it. Neither team settled down and make cool crisp passing a part of their game. Sure there were moments, but over all it was summed up with Juan Pietravallo getting his foot up high as Clint Mathis ducked his head low and the two forces meeting, leaving Cleetus with a busted open head (took 12 staples to close, using a stapler from someone in the teams sales departments cubical) and Pietravallo with a Red Card.
-You could hear that damn bag piper clearly throughout the whole game - I would have brained that guy after a little while.
-Was I the only one who thought Dema Kovalenko was going to hurt someone as soon as he got on the field?
-Dave van den Bergh has been fantastic this season for NY!
-It looked fairly chilly there last night, so instead of sitting politely with blankets on why didn't those people get up and jump around? They would have had a blast. Instead they had "fun".
-Both teams needed 3 points and got 1. It's better than 0.
-The stadium was not as unique looking as I had hoped. It was a cross between Home Depot Center and Toyota Park. But not being there, I don't know about the details.
-Macoumba Kandji got his first Red Bull start. He had a couple good moves, and couple good crosses. Everything else, eh. BUUUUUUUT, he is a forward, not a winger, so what do you expect.
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League Standings
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

The Fire will be without midfielder Marco Pappa this weekend who was called up Guatemalan national team, and defender Gonzalo Segares will join the Costa Rica national team for only the second of their games in this international break and will not miss a Fire match due to Yellow Card accumulation in qualifying.
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CD CHIVAS USA

The teams official blog has video interviews with players previewing their game on Saturday in San Jose.
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FC DALLAS

How many goals is Jeff Cunningham going to score against Toronto on Saturday night? I know he wants 4!
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Team president Oliver Luck addresses fans who are disappointed that David Beckham will not play with Los Angeles in Houston on Sat Oct 18 because he will be serving a one game suspension for Yellow Card accumulation.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Big Apple Soccer with a little on Macoumba Kandji's first start in an energy drink shirt.
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REAL SALT LAKE

The have still never beaten New York.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports on the opening night at Rio Tinto.
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Post game stories from the two daily newspapers:
Salt Lake Tribune
-RSL has to work real hard to prove it's worthy of new digs
-RSL's housewarming a success thanks to 'positive' fans, solid organization
-RSL players disappointed not to reward fans with victory
Deseret News
-All that was missing on RSL's red-letter day: a win
-Emerging Morales puts his stamp on opener
-Parking not a big problem at 1st RSL game in Sandy
-Real Salt Lake fans get a kick out of Rio Tinto Stadium
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Former RSL defender Mathias Mantilla is in Holland for a try out with De Graafschap.
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Last night was goalkeeper Nick Rimando's 200th MLS game.
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The Salt Lake Tribune has re-started their RSL blog, this time with Michael C Lewis at the helm.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Several people chime in on the official announcement of a working partnership between the Equakes and Tottenham Hotspur of London:
-Jay Hipps of Center Line Soccer
-Elliott Almond of the Mercury News
-The San Francisco Chronicle
-The Telegraph of London
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TORONTO FC

John Molinaro of the CBC says forward Chad Barrett is bothered by all the missed chances he has. But honestly, he is no better or worse now then when he started in the league.
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Ben Knight of the Globe & Mail blog On Soccer on "the goal of the season".
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Dean McNulty of the Sun says TFC will go up or down swinging.
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GENERAL

US Soccer has a podcast of their MLS Referee Review from last weekends games. Listen or download here.
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College News

Soccer America with a profile of Maryland star-of-tomorrow Omar Gonzalez.
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USL First Division Playoff Schedule

Final
-Sun Oct 12
Vancouver Whitecaps v Puerto Rico Islanders - live at 6pm central on FSC.
Match preview by Jeff DiVeronica at ESPN Soccernet.
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Team USA

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 11
USA v Cuba - live at 6pm central on ESPN Classic
-Wed Oct 15
Trinidad & Tobago v USA - live at 7pm central on ESPN
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Official Team Blog
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Defender Jay DeMerit has a hamstring injury and will not play in either game.
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DC United's video blog Behind The Badge has video interviews with three former members of DCU who are with the USA this week - coach Petr Nowak, and players Freddy Adu & Troy Perkins.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post with an article on Jose Francisco Torres, and other Mexican-American players.
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Jeff Carlisle at ESPN Soccernet expects nothing short of US dominance on Saturday.
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Jen Chang also of Soccernet with some thoughts on the USA team, and a few other world soccer notes.
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Beau Dure of USA Today says the team feels very comfortable being in DC.
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US Soccer with pictures of the team at practice.
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US Soccer has several video reports from the team.
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The roster:
G:
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa
Tim Howard - Everton
Troy Perkins - Valerenga
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes
Dan Califf - Midtjylland
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover
Frankie Hejduk - Columbus Crew
Oguchi Onyewu - Standard Liege
Michael Orozco - San Luis
Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock
M:
Freddy Adu - Monaco
DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach
Maurice Edu - Rangers
Sacha Kljestan - Chivas USA
Danny Szetela - Brescia
Jose Francisco Torres - Pachuca
F:
Jozy Altidore - Villarreal
Brian Ching - Houston Dynamo
Charlie Davies - Hammarby
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy
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Americans In Europe

Ravi Ubha at ESPN Soccernet talks to Frank Simek about his return form a long term ankle injury.
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TRANSFER RUMORS

Vital Football is reporting that Queens Park Rangers want to get Clint Dempsey on loan from Fulham. (thanks to Brian for this one)
-In case you don't know: QPR is a London club currently in the Championship division. It has a ton of money from the co-owners who are the head of Formula-1 auto racing and the owner of the Renault F-1 team. These two guys are a piece of work! Just looking at their pictures tells you a lot:
Bernie Ecclestone
Flavio Briatore
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

The Jamaica Observer on the Reggae Boyz "preparation" for Mexico.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Schedule

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 11
Guatemala v Trinidad & Tobago
USA v Cuba
Jamaica v Mexico
Honduras v Canada
Haiti v El Salvador
Surinam v 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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Canada & CSA News

Jason de Vos of the CBC says the Canadian national team needs to follow the example of the Montreal Impact in order to succeed.
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Mexico & FMF News

Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated checks in on how Sven has done with El Tri so far.
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South American News

Marcela Mora y Araujo of the Guardian tells us about South America's oldest and nastiest derby - Argentina v Uruguay.
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CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifying

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 11
Argentina v Uruguay
Bolivia v Peru
Colombia v Paraguay
-Sun Oct 12
Ecuador v Chile
Venezuela v 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

Centerback John Terry will hot play for England when they take on Kazakhstan this Saturday due to some sort of back problem.
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The BBC reports that an investment group from Dubai has made an official offer to buy Charlton, who are currently in the Championship division.
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Aston Villa midfielder Ashley Young has been named September Player Of The Month in the Premier League.
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Hull manager Phil Brown has been named September Coach Of The Month in the Premier League.
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European News

ITALY

Juventus & Italy goalkeeper Gigi Buffon has a torn thigh muscle and will be out of action for another 6-7 weeks.
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Gazzetta dello Sport says Italy is ready for their qualifiers in Bulgaria on Saturday, and at home against Montenegro on Wednesday, even though they have a lot of injuries.
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SCOTLAND

Ewan Murray of the Guardian previews Scotland’s World Cup qualifiers.
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UEFA World Cup Qualifying

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

The Telegraph writes about the world financial collapse from the perspectives of three people - Jeff Agoos(!!!) of the New York Red Bulls, the head of Brazilian Soccer Schools, and the director of the English Football Supporters Federation.
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African News

A player in Zimbabwe drown when the teams management told the whole team to go swim in a fast moving, croc & hippo infested river to cleanse them of "bad spirits". (thanks to Joe for this one)
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Africa World Cup Qualifying

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 11
Botswana v Mozambique
Cameroon v Mauritius
Cote d'Ivoire v Madagascar
Gabon v Libya
Ghana v Lesotho
Liberia v Algeria
Malawi v Congo DR
Mali v Chad
Morocco v Mauritania
Namibia v Zimbabwe
Nigeria v Sierra Leone
Senegal v Gambia
Sudan v Congo
Tanzania v Cape Verde Islands
Togo v Swaziland
Tunisia v Seychelles
-Sun Oct 12
Angola v Niger
Burundi v Burkina Faso
Guinea v Kenya
Uganda v Benin
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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