Carrying Big Buckets Of Of Hot Water News

Davy Arnaud and his Kansas City teammate Claudio Lopez combined beautifully for a perfect 1-2 counter-attack goal in MLS playoffs Round 1 Game 1.

~and~

Then there is the insane behind-the-leg flick by Yura Movsysian of Salt Lake in the dying moments to get the win! Another amazing goal. And like Lopez perfectly setting up Arnaud, this time its Javier Morales working miracles to get the ball centered for the goal.

~and~

Jozy Altidore was on the field for about 5 seconds when he scored his first goal for Villarreal in La Liga. It was just that easy! Fantastic for Jozy!

~and~

A New Jersey radio station helicopter took 4 new pictures from high above the new Red Bull Arena. Its looking great already. Wow, I am excited! Thanks to the Red Bulls official team blog for tipping us off to this!


MLS Scoreboard

Playoffs
Quarterfinals - 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Oct 30
New England 0-0 Chicago
Attendance: 5,221
Venue: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough MA
-Sat Nov 1
New York 1-1 Houston - NYRB goal by Juan Pablo Angel. HD goal by Kei Kamara.
Attendance: 11,578
Venue: Giants Stadium, East Rutherford NJ
Match report by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Match report by Stefan Bondy of the Herald News.
Match report by Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
Match report from teh New York Times.
Match report from the Houston Chronicle.
Post game video interview of NYRB players from the teams official blog.
Post game notes and HD player ratings by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on his blog Soccer y Futbol.
Post game analysis by Brian Lewis of the NY Post on his blog Extra Time.
Post game analysis and NYRB player quotes by Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives.
Post game analysis and HD player quotes by Dylan Butler of Soccer by Ives.
Salt Lake 1-0 Chivas - RSL goal by Yura Movsisyan.
Attendance: 14,719
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy UT
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret News.
Match report by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match report from the LA Daily News.
Post game analysis by Dan Rasmussen of the Deseret News.
Post game quotes by Chivas players from the teams official blog.
Post game notes by Nick Green of the Daily Breeze.
Player grades for RSL by Rasmussen on the papers RSL blog.
Kansas City 1-1 Columbus - KCW goal by Davy Arnaud. CC goal by Steven Lenhart.
Attendance: 10,385
Venue: Community America Ballpark, Kansas City KS
Match report by Randy Covitz of the KC Star.
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Post game notes and quotes from the official KCW team blog.
Post game notes by Mitchell.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

EJECTIONS:
Herculez Gomez - Kansas City - Red Card
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

COLUMBUS CREW

Steve Sirk writing on the Crew website gives us his jam-packed notebook scribblings.
-And the team website has the outtakes, b-sides and rarities.
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Soccer 365 has an article on left wing Robbie Rogers and all the hacking defenders that guy draws.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

It was kind of cool, and fool-hearty at the same time, to see Josh Wolff come off the subs bench after we had been told 2 weeks ago that he most likely would be out for the rest of the season with a stress fracture in his leg. I guess this really means a lot to him.
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The team has named Jack Jewsbury as their Defensive Player of the Year and Jimmy Conrad as the team MVP.
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The Star looks ahead to game 2.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated who has covered David Beckman closer than anyone else in America has unearthed a clause in the players contract that would allow him to leave the Galaxy after the 09 season. Interesting. And other news on the Golden Balls situation.
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The Independent in England has noticed that us Americans are beginning to turn on Beckman in large numbers. Honestly, I could careless if he comes back if he is only going to put in the minimal effort for the Galaxy that he did this season.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

After thinking about this too much and too long, Herculez Gomez should have been given a Yellow Card for his late and reckless tackle on Steve Ralston, and if he had gotten a Red Card I would have understood that call. More than any other player that is not in the playoffs this year, it is Steve Ralston I miss the most. That guy just has something magical about him, yet he seems like a mortal.
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Monique Walker of the Globe writes about the team keeping a clean sheet in game 1, then wonders if they can do it again AND score on the road.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer looks ahead to game 2 for the Bulls in Houston. Prognosis Negative.
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Lewis also questions the seemingly drastic line up changes for game 1.
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Kristian Dyer of ESPN Soccernet puts 100% of the playoff success or failure responsibility on the shoulders of coach Juan Carlos Osorio, not the players.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger looks at the giving side of Juan Pablo Angel, off the field of play.
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REAL SALT LAKE

Michael C Lewis of the Tribune with an article the wife of midfielder Andy Williams who was diagnosed with Lukemia earlier this year.
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Lewis also writes about the attacking substitutes that coach Jason Kreis made in the win over Chivas.
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James Edward of the Deseret News with an article on forward Yura Movsysian who has executed a miracle goal 2 weeks in a row.
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Edward & Lewis each look ahead to game 2 in LA.
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RSL has named Nat Borchers as their Defender of the Year, and Javier Morales as MVP.
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TORONTO FC

The Toronto Sun says TFC MUST sign a designated player to have on-field success. I disagree.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Steve Davis of ESPNSoccernet tells us 10 things to note from Round 1 Game 1 of the playoffs.
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Davis writing for MLSnet looks at the pivotal moves made by the managers in this round of games.
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Jeff Carlisle of Center Line Soccer tells us who he voted for on the official MLS ballot.
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Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram tells us who should be claiming the post season awards.
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James Edward of the Deseret News writes about the smaller than usual attendance numbers for round 1 of this years playoffs. The average of the 4 games was 10,476. Just awful.
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

TFC going after Alesandro Del Piero? Now that would be great. But there is little to no chance it would happen before next summer.
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Mike of Down The Byline says there is talk of Kansas City chasing after Puerto Rico Islanders midfield star Johnny Steele.
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USL First Division News

The man who basically built the Rochester Rhinos and Carolina Railhawks has been named the leagues new Senior Director.
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Soccer In America

Our main man Frank Dell'apa of ESPN Soccernet is now covering the daily Celtics beat for the Boston Globe and gets to talk soccer with basketball star Kevin Garnett. Great stuff.
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Americans In Europe

Andrea Canales of Goal.com with an article on Jozy Altidore and his predecessor at both New York Metrostars/Red Bulls and La Liga - Tab Ramos.
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Sports Illustrated talks to Jozy after his goal debut.
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US Soccer has an audio interview with Clint Dempsey.
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The coach of Jay DeMerit's team Watford, Aidy Boothroyd, was fired today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From what I have been reading it seems as though Carlos Bocanegra has been playing left fullback all the time now for Rennes.
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UPCOMING MATCHES

Swedish Allsvenskan
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - host Malmo on Monday
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English Premier League
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - at Newcastle on Monday
-Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - at Newcastle on Monday
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Italian Serie B
-Danny Szetela - Brescia - at Livorno on Monday
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

German Bundesliga 2
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - at Kaiserslautern on Monday
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup - Matchday 2
-Thu Nov 6
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - at Slavia Praha
-Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - at Slavia Praha
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard Liege - host Sevilla
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MOST RECENT MATCHES
(only players who saw the field are listed)

French Ligue 1
-Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - went the full match, got booked, and won 1-0 at home over Sochaux.
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Spanish La Liga
-Jozy Altidore - Villarreal - came on as a sub in the 90th minute, and promptly scored his first La Liga goal!!! They beat Athletic Bilbao 1-4 on the road.
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Scottish Premier League
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - came on as a sub in the 74th minute of a 5-0 win over Inverness at home.
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German Bundesliga 1
-Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - came on as a sub in the 56th minute but lost 2-1 at home to Eintracht.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the full 90 and beat Hamburg 3-0 at home.
-Neven Subotic - Borussia Dortmund - went the distance but drew 1-1 at home against Bochum.
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German Bundesliga 2
-Grover Gibson - Rot Weiss Ahlen - came on as a sub in the 82nd minute but lost 0-2 at home to Mainz.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - came on as a sub at half time but lost 1-0 at Oberhausen.
-Matt Taylor - Koblenz - started and went 73 minutes of a 1-1 home draw with Duisburg.
-David Yelldell - Koblenz - went the distance in a 1-1 home draw with Duisburg.
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Dutch Erstedivisie
-Charles Kazlauskas - TOP Oss - played all 90 minutes but lost on the road at Cambuur Leeuwarden 2-1.
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Belgian Jupiler League
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - went the full match but lost at home 1-2 to Royal Charleroi.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Austrian Bundesliga
-Preston Zimmerman - Kapfenberg - went the distance but lost 0-2 at home to Rapid Wien.
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English Premier League
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - came on as a sub in the 88th minute as they lost 1-0 at Everton.
-Tim Howard - Everton - went the distance and won 1-0 at home over Fulham.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English Championship Division
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played the full 90 but lost 3-4 at home to Blackpool.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - in goal as always and won 1-4 at Bristol City.
-Eddie Johnson - Cardiff - came on as a sub in the 55th minute of a 1-2 home loss to Wolverhampton.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Danish SAS Ligaen
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - came on as a sub in the 83rd minute, and they won 1-4 at Sonderjyske.
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - started, went 81 minutes and scored the winner as they beat Midtjylland 2-1 at home.
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Norwegian Tippeligaen - last round of the season
-Troy Perkins - Valerenga - played the whole match but lost at home 0-1 to Brann.
Final Standings: *54 Stabaek
*48 Fredrikstad
44 Tromso
42 Bodo/Glimt
39 Rosenborg
39 Viking
38 Lyn
33 Brann
*31 Molde
*30 Valerenga
29 Stromsgodset
28 Lillestrom
*25 Aalesund
21 HamKam
*Americans on the roster
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Norwegian Adeccoligaen - last round of the season
-Clarence Goodson - Start - back in the first 11 again, went the distance and scored the only goal in his teams 1-0 home win over Notodden.
-Joe Lapira - Nybergsund - played all 90 and scored the game winner as they beat Sandnes Ulf 2-0 at home.
-Jay Needham - Alta - went the distance but lost 3-0 at Lov-Ham.
Final Standings: 65 Odd Grenland
60 Sandefjord
*59 Start
54 Sogndal
51 Honefoss
46 Notodden
*42 Haugesund
*42 Nybergsund
39 Moss
37 Sarpsborg Sparta
*36 Bryne
34 Lov-Ham
30 Kongsvinger
*26 Alta
25 Sandnes Ulf
*14 Hodd
*Americans on the roster
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Swedish Allsvenskan
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - went the distance in goal but lost 0-3 at home to GAIS.
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Americans In Mexico

Luis Bueno on his all new blog The Touchline brings us the news on our boys in the FMF over the weekend.
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CONCACAF Champions League

Official CCL website
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Make Up Games
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 5
Marathon v Saprissa
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Standings (games played):
Group A
10 Cruz Azul (6)
10 Saprissa (5)
10 Marathon (5)
% 1 DC (6)

* Advanced
% Elimidated
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UNAM Pumas, Montreal Impact, Atlante, Santos Laguna & Puerto Rico Islanders have advanced to the knock out stage next spring, with 3 more teams left to join them.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

Again? Really? Guatemala has re-hired Benjamin Monterroso as coach of their national team for the third time. No one else is qualified? What has he done that is so great?
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South American News

Do you know why Diego Maradona might be a great coach for Argentina? Because he is NOT just another coach that has had success in Argentina. He is an insider with an outsiders perspective. The team has come up short at the past few World Cups when they have arguably had the most talent on the field. But they never seem motivated or egotistical enough to wipe out other teams. Maybe, just maybe, Diego is nuts enough to teach them this trait. Or is could be a complete disaster. But you know what? I think its worth the risk.
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Tim Vickery of the BBC sticks up for lil Diego.
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Last season River Plate won the title in Argentina, and then went out and got highly touted young coach and former great player Diego Simeone to lead them into the future. This season after 13 games they have just 9 points and sit dead last in 20th place. Ouch.
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The real Ronaldo continues to receive offers for his services in the January transfer window. The most interesting one so far is from Sienna who are offering him 100,000 Euro's per goal!
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England News

After winning no games and claiming only 2 points in their first 7 games of the season, Tottenham has come alive under new manager Bobble Head Harry and grabbed 7 points in 3 games, including a draw at Arsenal and a home win over Liverpool. I am not saying that Redknapp is a miracle worker, but he is getting his players to live up to their abilities.
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Duncan Castles of the Observer with an article on two boyhood friends who are trying to lead Manchester City to the top of the heap - Elano & Robinho.
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Sport Magazine has a Q & A with Arsenal midfield star Cesc Fabregas.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Man U striker Cristiano Ronaldo, with the readers asking the questions.
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It's been fun the past few weeks watching Rory Delap of Stoke make these ridiculously long throw ins that are causing all kinds of havoc in the opposition penalty area. Why is this so hard to deal with? No idea, but it's a blast to watch the madness that ensues.
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John Ashdown of the Guardian gives us a wrap up of the lesser leagues in England.
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Jonathan Wilson at the Telegraph ponders the early struggles in the Premiership for Luka Modric, the Croatian at Tottenham.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times looks at the "Respect" campaign the FA put in play before the new season started - it's all but gone already. I think that's because there are no real repercusions against players and coaches who got nuts. It's just lip service on the part of the FA.
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European News

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times writes about a new ideas in security at Europe's top football grounds.
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GERMANY

Raphael Honigstein writes about resilient Werder Bremen, and the weekend in the Bundesliga.
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ITALY

A huge weekend for Milan as they go to the top of the table!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Football Italia with a capsule review of round 10 in Serie A. They have earned 22 of their last 24 possible points.
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Gazzetta rates the Serie A teams performances this round. Juventus were the top team.
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Paolo Bandini of the Guardian wonders how Milan got to the top so quickly and if they really need Beckman, and the rest of Serie A from last week.
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Football Italia reports that "fans" of Roma have now turned from fighting supporters of other football clubs, to attacking their own team.
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Inter centerback Christian Chivu will be out of action for a least a month with a knee ligament tear.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports says Jose Mourinho is not making things perfect at Inter.
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NETHERLANDS

Leeander Schaerlaecker of the Guardian reports on resurgent Ajax (up to #2) and a round up of the weekends matches from the Eredivisie.
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RUSSIA

Rubin Kazan has won the Russian Premier League title!
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SPAIN

Barca star Lionel Messi has been caught on video tape spitting at an opponent in their game on Sunday. He should be suspended if this if verified. I know that guy gets fouled a lot, but spitting at someone is pathetic.
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Sid Lowe of the Guardian tells about about the Pep Boys of Barcelona (who have 28 goals in 9 league games), and gives us a La Liga round up.
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Phil Ball of ESPN Soccernet writes about the Alex Ferguson v Ramon Calderon heavyweight tongue wag, and LA Liga on the field too.
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OTHERS

Staebek has won the Norwegian league championship.
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UEFA Champions League

Matchday 4
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Nov 4
CFR Cluj v Bordeaux -
Roma v Chelsea - live at 1:45pm central & delayed at 8:15pm central on Setanta & delayed at 4pm central on ESPN Classic
Anorthosis v Inter Milan -
Werder Bremen v Panathinaikos - delayed at 4:40pm & 10pm central on Setanta
Sporting v Shakhtar Donetsk - live at 6:30pm central on Setanta
Barcelona v Basel - live at 1:30pm central & delayed at 9pm central on ESPN Deportes
Liverpool v Atletico Madrid - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2 & delayed at 3:45pm central on ESPN Deportes
Marseille v PSV - delayed at 7pm central on ESPN Deportes
-Wed Nov 5
Aalborg v Villarreal - delayed at 3:45pm central on ESPN Deportes
Celtic v Man United - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2 & delayed at 7pm central on ESPN Deportes
Fiorentina v Bayern Munich -
Lyon v Steaua Bucuresti -
Arsenal v Fenerbahce - live at 1:45pm central & delayed at 8:15pm central on Setanta
Dynamo Kyiv v Porto - delayed at 4:40pm central on Setanta
BATE Birisov v Zenit -
Real Madrid v Juventus - live at 1:30pm central & delayed at 9pm central on ESPN Deportes & delayed at 4pm central on ESPN Classic & delayed at 6:30pm central on Setanta
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup

Matchday 2 is Thu Nov 6. Here are those matches.
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Big Club Matches Around The World Last Weekend

England Premier
-Sat Nov 1
Manchester United 4-3 Hull - Hull put up a late fight and nearly pulled off a huge tie. But they are slowly coming back to reality, while Man U is rising to reality.
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Italy Serie A
-Sat Nov 1
Juventus 2-0 Roma - Juve stay in the race at the top while Roma as now just 1 point away from the relegation zone and 15 points out of first place after just 10 games.
-Sun Nov 2
AC Milan 1-0 Napoli - Milan beats an old rival, and goes to #1 in Serie A.
Siena 1-0 Fiorentina - the little team wins the Tuscan derby.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Holland Eredivisie
-Sat Nov 1
NAC Breda 1-0 Groningen - The win puts NAC tied for the league lead, and drops Gronigen 2 point off the pace.
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Russia Premier
-Sat Nov 1
CSKA Moscow 0-1 Spartak Moscow - CSKA's loss in this Moscow derby gives Rubin Kazan the championship!
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Argentina Primera
-Sun Nov 2
Boca Juniors 1-0 San Lorenzo - Boca's win brings them into a tie at the top with San Lorenzo.
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Brazil Brasileiro
-Sun Nov 2
Fluminense 0-1 Vasco da Gama - the away team win one of the big Rio derby's!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Top European League Leaders

Bundesliga - 11 of 34 rounds played
25 Hoffenheim
24 Bayer Leverkusen
21 Bayern Munich
20 Schalke
20 Hamburger
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Premiership - 11 of 38 rounds played
26 Chelsea
26 Liverpool
21 Manchester United (only 10 played)
20 Arsenal
20 Aston Villa (only 10 played)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ligue 1 - 12 of 38 rounds played
27 Lyon
23 Marseille
21 Bordeaux
21 Toulouse
20 Lille
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Serie A - 10 of 38 rounds played
22 Milan
21 Udinese
21 Inter
20 Napoli
19 Lazio
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La Liga - 9 of 38 rounds played
22 Barcelona
21 Villarreal
20 Real Madrid
20 Valencia
17 Sevilla
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

Jack Bell of the New York Times does a Q & A with Italy's most famous referee, the hairless and eerie Pierluigi Collina.
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The Independent writes about the fallacy that is the FIFA Club World Cup - coming up in December. It really is the most unwatchable tournament of them all.
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Jack Warner/Sepp Blatter/FIFA Idiocy & Scandal News

Andrew Jennings of Transparency in Sports keeps us up to date on the criminal proceedings on allegations of bribery against FIFA officials.
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African News

The African Champions League final.
Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Sun Nov 2
Al Ahly (Egypt) 2-0 Coton Sport (Cameroon)
2nd Leg
-Sun Nov 16
Coton Sport v Al Ahly
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Asian News

The Asian Champions League final is all set as Gamba Osaka beat Urawa Red Diamonds 4-2 on aggregate, and Adelaide United beat Bunyodkor 3-1 on aggregate.
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 5
Gamba (Japan) v Adelaide (Australia)
-Wed Nov 12
Adelaide v Gamba