This Is Our Salvation News

CONCACAF Champions League News

Official CCL website
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Matchday 5
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 21
Impact de Montreal v Olimpia - 7pm central on FSC
Venue: Saputo Stadium, Montreal QC
Match preview from the Montreal Gazette.
Cruz Azul v DC United - 9pm central on FSC
Venue: Estadio Azul, Mexico City DF
Match preview by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match preview by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Joe Public v Atlante
Venue: Marvin Lee Stadium, Tunapuna Trinidad & Tobago
-Wed Oct 22
Houston Dynamo v UNAM Pumas - 9pm central on FSC
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
Match preview by Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle.
San Francisco v Luis Angel Firpo
Venue: Estadio Agustin Sanchez, La Chorrera Panama
Santos Laguna v Tauro
Venue: Estadio Corona, Torreon COA
-Thu Oct 23
Puerto Rico Islanders v Municipal - 10pm central on FSC
Venue: Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium, Bayamon PR
Marathon v Saprissa
Venue: Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula Honduras
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 31
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 23
**Chicago v New York - 8pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Oct 25
**New England v Kansas City - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
**Colorado v Salt Lake - 8:30pm central on HDNet
San Jose v Toronto - 9pm central on Direct Kick
Chivas v Houston - 9:30pm central on FSC
-Sun Oct 26
Los Angeles v Dallas - 2pm central on TeleFutura
**Columbus v DC - 4pm central on Direct Kick

**these 4 games have big playoff implications
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League Standings
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Tribune on his blog The Red Card talks to midfielder John Thorrington about his pile up of Yellow Cards.
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CD CHIVAS USA

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer does a short Q & A with goalkeeper Dan Kennedy. And some other CUSA news.
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COLORADO RAPIDS

George Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News blog FC Rocky has Random thoughts from a Rapids victory.
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FC DALLAS

You have to imagine that after 3 coaches in 6 years and no real progress as a team that the days of Michael Hitchcock as team President & General Manager are numbered.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Houston will face either New York, Kansas City or DC in the first round of the playoffs.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze gives us An Obituary for the Galaxy. Green pinpoints the day the Galaxy actually died, and I could not agree more.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger feels that the team may be better off releasing both Jon Conway and Jeff Parke. Plus other soccer notes.
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The Bulls backline suffered another loss as Carlos Mendes needs hernia surgery and will miss 2 to 3 weeks, which easily could be the rest of the season for him.
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TORONTO FC

Nigel Reed of the CBC looks under the TFC hood and finds the root of the trouble.
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GENERAL

Jeff Bradley of MLSnet uses his First XI column this week to announce his 2008 Best 11.
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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America says commissioner Donald S Garber has lived up to his word with the punishment for use of banned performance enhancing drugs.
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Some pud-slapper from Sky Sports comes to LA and interviews Ruud Gullit. The guy tries to write some of those cliches bad things about MLS but gets so many facts wrong that the rest is irrelevant. In the end he just does an ass kiss job on Gullit and we all go home empty handed. Thanks buddy, don't come again.
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MLS Rookie Of The Year

By seasons end we are down to 3 legit candidates in my book. There are another 10-12 in the next group, but these should be finalists for the award (in alpha order):
-Geoff Cameron - Houston Dynamo
-Roger Espinoza - Kansas City Wizards
-Sean Franklin - Los Angeles Galaxy
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Franklin will probably win it, but I would give it to Cameron for being so versatile, and getting better and better every game as the season wore on. To me Franklin stayed the same, on that crappy team, from start to finish. Espinoza is a very good third choice.
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MLS Expansion News

Last week on No Short Corners our email friend Chros McDonald-McDougall-McHenry did a guest stint and handicapped (horse racing style) the expansion cities. Good job man.
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Canada & CSA News

John Molinaro of the CBC tells us how Montreal has overachieved in all the right ways this season (which is still marching on).
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South American News

Joel Richards of the Guardian takes in the glory of the Superclasico in Argentina between Boca & River. He calls it the best match on earth.
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Here is a name to pencil in your moleskin covered notepad: Eder. He is a Brazilian midfielder who is being compared to Kaka. He is owned by Empoli in Serie A, but is currently on loan to Frosinone in Serie B.
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England News

Just how good is Amr Zaki of Wigan? Check out this video of his performance last weekend against Liverpool. He leads the Premiership in goals with 7, and most of them have been jaw dropping! The Egyptian guy at the Handy Stop near my house has been raving about him forever. He used to play for Al Zamalek in his home country, and along with Aboutroika helped Egypt win last winters African Cup of Nations. Zaki has 29 goals in 48 caps. The both of them are nominated for African Player of the Year, and one of them should win it if there is any justice.
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European News

I don't see the Ballon d'Or going to anyone but Cristiano Ronaldo. He was amazing last season for his club Man U, winning both the Premiership and the Champions League scoring 42 goals along the way. Huge. I can alot of votes going to members of Spain's Euro Championship winning team too, like Xavi Hernandez who won the Golden Ball in that tournament. Their goal keeper Iker Casillas is another name I hear. And then there is Lionel Messi of Barcelona, who is a finalist for sure but does not deserve to win it because he was injured so much, and his team really underachieved.
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FRANCE

Ben Lyttleton of the Guardian with a look at Bordeaux midfield potential-star Yoann Gourcuff, and a look at last weekend in Ligue Un.
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Nice has announced plans to build a new 100 Million Euro stadium.
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GERMANY

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian looks at Bayern Munich finally showing some signs of life, and other matters Bundesliga.
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ITALY

AFP with a story on Napoli who is hoping to revive the glory days. Via Yahoo Sports.
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RUSSIA

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian tells us about Russian Premier League leaders Rubin Kazan who have almost wrapped up this years title. But what about those match fixing rumors spreading around the world about Russian football.
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SCOTLAND

Kevin McCarra of the Guardian with an article on Celtic midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura.
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UEFA Champions League

Matchday 3 is next week on Tue Oct 21 & Wed Oct 22.
-Tue Oct 21
Manchester United v Celtic - 1:30pm central on ESPN2 & 6:30pm central on ESPN Deportes
Juventus v Real Madrid - 1:30pm central on ESPN Deportes & 4pm central on ESPN Classic
Zenit St Petersburg v BATE Borisov - 11:15pm central on Setanta
Fenerbahce v Arsenal - 1:45pm central on Setanta & 3:45pm central on ESPN Deportes
Porto v Dynamo Kyiv - 5pm central on Setanta
Villarreal v Aalborg
Bayern Munich v Fiorentina
Steaua Bucuresti v Lyon
-Wed Oct 22
Atletico Madrid v Liverpool - 1:30pm central on ESPN2 & 3:45pm central on ESPN Deportes
Chelsea v Roma - 1pm central on Setanta, 4pm central on ESPN Classic & 6:30pm central on ESPN Deportes
Panathinaikos v Werder Bremen - 4:30pm central on Setanta
Shakhtar Donetsk v Sporting - 7pm central on Setanta
Basel v Barcelona - 1:30pm central on ESPN Deportes
Bordeaux v Cluj
Inter v Anorthosis
PSV v Marseille
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African News

FIFA.com says the Liberian federation are looking for solutions to their countries football woes.