Cracks Appeared Out Of Nowhere News

I am going to be at the Sweetwater in St Paul on Thursday night to watch Chicago v New England. Game time is 7:30pm central. Hope to see you Twin Citians there.


MLS Scoreboard

Playoffs
Quarterfinals - 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (1st leg score included):
-Thu Nov 6
Chicago v New England (0-0) - 7:30pm central on ESPN2
Venue: Toyota Park, Bridgeview IL
Match preview by Beau Dure of USA Today.
-Sat Nov 8
Columbus v Kansas City (1-1) - 6:30pm central on HDNet
Venue: Crew Stadium, Columbus OH
Chivas v Salt Lake (0-1) - 9:30pm central on FSC
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
-Sun Nov 9
Houston v New York (1-1) - 2pm central on TeleFutura
Venue: Robertson Stadium, Houston TX
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Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet previews all 4 second leg matches.
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Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com previews the 4 series finale's as well.
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Tribune writes about the Fire talking to the press about refereeing decisions and trying to gain an advantage before the game even begins.
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Nick Firchau of the Sun Times writes about Jon Busch being named the leagues Goalkeeper of the Year.
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CD CHIVAS USA

Luis Bueno of The Touchline fills us in on the condition of Alecko Eskandarian's knee.
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COLORADO RAPIDS

It seems as though the question of whether or not Gary Smith will be named permanent head coach has been answered by the fact the he just hired Rochester assistant coach Steve Guppy to be an assistant in Denver.
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COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch with an article on left full back Gina Padula - one half of The Jesus Brothers Fullbacks Show.
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Mitchell with a few other team notes on his blog Covering The Crew.
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FC DALLAS

Team president Michael Hitchcock posts a letter to fans on the teams blog.
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Their official blog also has some notes on their players.
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DC UNITED

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider reports that coach Tom Soehn will be brought back for next season.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

The Attleboro Sun Chronicle of Massachusetts has a story on their hometown player Geoff Cameron who has had a surprising and successful first year in Houston. Good stuff.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Greg Seltzer of Soccer 365 talks with Davy Arnaud.
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Randy Covitz of the Star looks at some midseason line up shifting that turned the team into a contender.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Monique Walker of the Boston Globe on right fullback Chris Albright who reluctantly came from Los Angeles in an offseason trade.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times tells us about 4 players he thinks the Galaxy should be chasing after for next season. Good idea, but as a professional soccer journalist it would be nice to see some players listed that all of us readers don’t already know everything about. These picks are soooooooo obvious. Every team in the league would like to have these players. Come on Grahame, at least push yourself.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Kyle McCarthy of the Herald writes that the Rev's are going to have to have a very big defensive game if they are to advance in the playoffs. And they are not injured in the defense like they are in the offense.
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Jim Dow of Revs Net with his usual high quality stuff about the Revolution, and a Q & A with Sainey Nyassi.
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REAL SALT LAKE

Michael C Lewis of the Tribune with an article on the life of red hot striker Yura Movsysian, or as Martin Fernandez of United Mania calls him, You're A Mortician.
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James Edward of the Deseret News tells us what RSL must do to advance. Um, not lose?
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GENERAL

Andrew Hush at ESPN Soccernet with his weekly league notes.
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Pat Walsh of Goal.com thinks the playoffs needs the "away goal tiebreaker rule" to liven things up.
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Andrew Dixon of the US National Soccer Players Assoc gives us his picks for the 7 biggest playoff upsets.
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Soccer 365 with more Ze Roberto to FC Dallas talk. With a quote from the player himself.
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Down the Byline with word of Claudio Lopez bailing out of Kansas City. And Duilio Davino of Dallas joining him.
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USL First Division News

The league announced that Amos Magee (of my Minnesota Thunder!) and Pat Onstad will be inducted in to their Hall of Fame. Great news! All hail Mighty Magee! The ceremony is Nov 21.
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Montreal has given coach John Limniatis a contract for next season.
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USA U17 News

The team is in France for 3 friendlies.
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 5
v Bretigny U18
-Thu Nov 6
v France U17
-Sat Nov 8
v Paris St Germaine U18
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Soccer In America

The list of candidates for the USA National Soccer Hall of Fame has been announced:
MEN:
Jeff Agoos
Mike Burns
Mauricio Cienfuegos
Raul Diaz Arce
Thomas Dooley
John Doyle
Marco Etcheverry
Robin Fraser
Dominic Kinnear
Frank Klopas
Roy Lassiter
Pato Margetic
Joe-Max Moore
Victor Nogueira
Peter Nowak
Preki Radosavljevic
Mike Sorber
Earnie Stewart
Steve Trittschuh
Carlos Valderama
Peter Vermes
WOMEN:
Joy Biefeld Fawcett
Shannon MacMillan
Cindy Parlow
Tisha Venturini Hoch
-Voting started on Monday and runs until December 3rd. The new inductee's will be announced on Jan 15.
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The San Bernardino Sun reports that Paul Caligiuri has called it quits as coach of the Men's & Women's soccer teams at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. What does he go do now? Does he have something lined up already?
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Americans In Europe

Yanks Abroad talks to Dan Califf about his first season at Midtjylland in Denmark.
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UPCOMING MATCHES

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
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CONCACAF News

The Antigua Sun reports that the coach of Joe Public has quit/was fired. He led the team to their stunning demolition of New England in the Champions League.
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CONCACAF Champions League

Official CCL website
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Make Up Game
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 5
Marathon v Saprissa
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Standings (games played):
Group A
10 Cruz Azul (6)
10 Saprissa (5)
10 Marathon (5)
% 1 DC (6)

* Advanced
% Elimidated
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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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Mexico & FMF News

FIFA.com has an article on Guadalajara's young talented striker Omar Arellano.
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Mexico plays a friendly next Wed Nov 12 v Ecuador in Phoenix AZ.
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Maradona Mania

The BBC does a Q & A with Argentine legend Jorge Valdano, about the new coach.
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If someone in the USA is going to write about Diego, I vote for Marc Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune.
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Reuters calls Day 1 of the Maradona reign "Confused and entertaining."
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Javier Mascherano has been named the new team captain.
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Here is their roster for the Nov 19 game in Scotland:
G:
Juan Pablo Carrizo - Lazio
Mauricio Romero - AZ Alkmaar
D:
Nicolas Burdisso - Inter Milan
Fabricio Coloccini - Newcastle
Martin Demichelis - Bayern Munich
Daniel Diaz - Getafe
Gabriel Heinze - Real Madrid
Javier Zanetti - Inter Milan
M:
Angel Di Maria - Benfica
Fernando Gago - Real Madrid
Luis Gonzalez - Porto
Jonas Gutierrez - Newcastle
Javier Mascherano - Liverpeople
Maxi Rodriguez - Atletico Madrid
Jose Sosa - Bayern Munich
S:
Kun Aguero - Atletico Madrid
German Denis - Napoli
Ezequiel Lavezzi - Napoli
Lisandro Lopez - Porto
Carlos Tevez - Manchester United
-NOTE: No Lionel Messi or Juan Roman Riquelme.
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South American News

Gregory Sica of Sports Illustrated reports that even though River Plate are giving off the worst stench in all of Argentina, they do have a brilliant player in Falcao.
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Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer has a guest who writes about a visit to La Bombonera in Buenos Aires to see Boca Juniors play. That is one of my life's dreams.
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England News

The Telegraph with an article on the ultra-rich owners of Queens Park Rangers who have been in charge for a year now. What have they done? Are they about to make a big move in a positive direction?
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The Telegraph has another article about the already fierce battle going on in the Premiership to avoid relegation.
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Arsenal forward Emmanuel Adebayor will be out of action for nearly a month with an ankle injury suffered in a rough challenge last weekend in their game against Stoke.
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European News

ITALY

Former Inter #2 under Roberto Mancini, Sinisa Mihajlovic has been hired as the new manager of Bologna.
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Pippo Inzaghi has signed a contract extension with Milan until the end of the 2010 season.
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SPAIN

Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta suffered a torn hamstring during the Champions League game yesterday and will out for at least 6 weeks.
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OTHERS

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian tells us about the crazy looking old coach who is attempting to return Dynamo Kyiv to their glory days.
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Chelsea goalkeeper Peter Cech has been named the Czech Republic Player of the Year.
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UEFA Champions League

Matchday 4
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Nov 4
CFR Cluj 1-2 Bordeaux - Cluj goal by Dani. Bordeaux goals by Yoann Gourcuff & Wendel.
Roma 3-0 Chelsea - Roma goals by Christian Panucci & Mirko Vucinic(2).
Anorthosis 3-3 Inter Milan - Anor goals by Cedric Bardon, Georgios Panagi & Nikolaos Frousos. IM goals by Mario Balotelli, Marco Materazzi & Julio Cruz.
Werder Bremen 0-3 Panathinaikos - Pan goals by Vangelis Mantzios, Giorgos Karagounis & Alexandros Tziolis.
Sporting 1-0 Shakhtar Donetsk - Spor goal by Derlei.
Barcelona 1-1 Basel - Barc goal by Lionel Messi. Bas goal by Eren Derdiyok.
Liverpool 1-1 Atletico Madrid - Liv goal by Steven Gerrard(PK). AM goal by Maxi Rodriguez.
Marseille 3-0 PSV - OM goals by Bakari Kone & Mamadou Niang(2).
-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 Borisov 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
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Group Standings
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reviews all of yesterdays action.
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Barcelona & Sporting have secured spots in the knock out stages already.
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That penalty call that went in the Liverpeople's favor 4 minutes into stoppage time, and allowed them to get a point at home against Atletico, was a joke. The referee should be embarrassed. Or in the words of Zinedine Zidane, "You should be ashamed." Even Gerrard has admitted that if that same call had gone against them he would be livid.
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UEFA Cup

Matchday 2 is Thu Nov 6. Here are those matches.
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Jack Warner/Sepp Blatter/FIFA Idiocy & Scandal News

The BBC reports that England & Jamaica have struck a deal on a timetable for the Caribbean Islander’s to pay off a 135,000 Pound debt owed to England. Of course Jack's fingers are in the pie.
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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 3-0 Adelaide
-Wed Nov 12
Adelaide v Gamba (0-3)