Hitting The Notes Just A Little Off Sounds Right News

This will be the 4th year in a row that Pat Noonan tries to win MLS Cup. He is zero for the last three with New England, so will his luck change in Columbus?

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Really bad news from the official Atlanta Silverbacks website: "Due to the state of the economy and the potential of an MLS team coming to town, the men’s pro team has decided to sit the year out while the Silverbacks assess the landscape." More details in the USL First Division News section.


Team USA

Match & Score:
-Wed Nov 19
USA v Guatemala - 7pm central time on ESPN Classic.
Match preview by Brian Forbes of the Denver Post.
Match preview from the AP.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with an article on Fire teammates Chris Rolfe and Marco Pappa, roommates on the road, who will face off tonight.
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Official team blog.
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Official team twitter.
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US Soccer with many things leading up to tonight's kickoff:
-Notes on the game.
-Photos from training yesterday
-Several video clips from the past week.
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to Paul Caligiuri on the 19th anniversary of the goal that set US Soccer on its current course - Today.
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Major League Soccer

Final
Match & Score:
-Sun Nov 23
Columbus Crew v Red Bull New York - 2:30pm central time on ABC
Venue: Home Depot Center, Carson CA
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Let me know if you are attending so we can work on our tans out together.
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MLS Cup Finalists

COLUMBUS CREW

Alejandro Moreno, unlike his Red Bulls counterparts, was called into the Venezuelan national team this week, but did not go.
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Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune with an article on the Crew's So Cal coaching legend Sigi Schmid.
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Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch writes about the extra money the players are making with this run to the championship.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Do you realize that the Miracle Men of the Bulls back line have only given up 2 goals in the past 4 games [CORRECTED], and both of those were the one game in Chicago.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger with an article on a man who has been with Red Bull/MetroStars all 13 miserable seasons, and now get a little reward - their Spanish speaking radio broadcaster Ernesto Motta.
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Brian Lewis of the NY Post on his blog Extra Time talks about the Bulls miracle defense.
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George Vecsey of the New York Times on the Bulls 13 years of futility.
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Pat Walsh of Goal.com with an article on the Designated Player rule, and the success of Juan Pablo Angel.
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MLS Team News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Tribune on his blog The Red Card talks to left midfeilder Marco Pappa about next season. Chicago would be fools to let this talented looking youngster go.
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GENERAL

Jack Bell of the New York Times blog Goal does a Q & A with MLS Commissioner Donald T. Garber.
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Andrew Hush of ESPN Soccernet with his weekly League notes.
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MLS Post Season Awards

The fans have voted for this as MLS Goal of the Year by Real Salt Lake midfielder Will Johnson. Whatever. Did any of you SEE the goal that Marcelo Gullardo hit? He tried to do that. Even Will Johnson admits that his was pure luck. He never tried to flick it to himself, he misplayed it and got a lucky bounce. Sad. OK I'll stop complaining. Great goals rock!
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Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com hands out his post season awards.
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USL First Division News

I have been sensing some negative rumblings in the past week about USL. Word around was that some teams were not happy with the way the league is being run from the top. But until now there had been nothing concrete to report on. Then we got this late yesterday:
-The Atlanta Silverbacks Men to Sit Out 2009 Season - from the teams official site
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This is horrible news for the league. With Seattle leaving for MLS and Austin moving up to the 1st Div next year that leaves the league at just 10 teams. To me that is not big enough. We need growth not shrinkage.
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US Soccer News

US Soccer has announced the nominees for Athlete of the Year and Young Athlete of the Year. Here are the two lists:

Male Athlete of the Year Candidates
Carlos Bocanegra
Michael Bradley
Clint Dempsey
Landon Donovan
Tim Howard
Oguchi Onyewu

Young Male Athlete of the Year Candidates
Maurice Edu
Stuart Holden
Sacha Kljestan
Michael Orozco
Robbie Rogers
Marvell Wynne
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USA U20 News

Coach Thomas Rongen has the team in Spain this week for 3 friendlies.
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Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 19
Real Madrid U20 v USA U20
-Thu Nov 20
Atletico Madrid U20 v USA U20
-Sat Nov 22
Rayo Vallecano U20 v USA U20
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Americans In Europe

Greg Seltzer at Soccer 365 has an interview with Hunter Freeman who has been training with fellow American Clarence Goodson at Start in the Norwegian 2nd Division and will play for them when their next season starts in April.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Schedule

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 19
El Salvador v Costa Rica
Honduras v Mexico
Jamaica v Canada
Suriname 1-1 Haiti
Trinidad & Tobago v Cuba
USA v Guatemala
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Costa Rica, El Salvador & USA have already advanced to the Hexagon.
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Copa Sudamericana

Semifinals
2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st Leg scores included):
-Wed Nov 19
International v Guadalajara (2-0)
-Thu Nov 20
Estudiantes v Argentinos Juniors (1-1)
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England News

World Soccer has a lengthy Q & A with Cristiano Ronaldo.
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European News

Martin Samuel of The Times writes about a proposal in the European Union to have government oversite on all football business. They have this in France, and the new EU President is Nicolas Sarkozy, who plans to push for this in all of Europe. Look out.
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FRANCE

Paul Doyle of the Guardian with the story of a serious late bloomer - Steve Savidan of France & Caen who will most likely make his international debut today.
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ITALY

The Azzuri is unbeaten in the past 31 games under coach Marcello Lippi!
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UEFA World Cup Qualifying

-Wed Nov 19
San Marino 0-3 Czech Republic
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World News

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian wonders why most teams have gone away from the 3-5-2 formation. Easy, teams are more interested in athleticism than skill these days, and its easier to play 4-5-1 and defend with athletes.
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International Friendlies

-Tue Nov 18
Algeria 1-1 Mali
Estonia 1-0 Moldova
Gabon 3-3 Guinea
Myanmar 4-1 Malaysia
-Wed Nov 19
Austria 2-4 Turkey
Azerbaijan 1-1 Albania
Cyprus 2-1 Belarus
Denmark 0-1 Wales
Egypt 5-1 Benin
France 0-0 Uruguay
Germany 1-2 England
Ghana 0-0 Tunisia
Greece 1-1 Italy
Ireland 2-3 Poland
Israel 2-2 Cote d'Ivoire
Luxembourg 1-1 Belgium
Macau 1-9 Hong Kong
Malta 0-1 Iceland
Moldova 1-1 Lithuania
Montenegro 2-1 Macedonia
Morocco 3-0 Zambia
Netherlands 3-1 Sweden
Northern Ireland 0-2 Hungary
Oman 0-1 Paraguay
Romania 2-1 Georgia
Scotland 0-1 Argentina
Serbia 6-1 Bulgaria
Slovakia 4-0 Liechtenstein
Slovenia 3-4 Bosnia-Herzegovina
South Africa 3-2 Cameroon
Spain 2-0 Chile
Switzerland 1-0 Finland
Ukraine 1-0 Norway

Brazil v Portugal
Colombia v Nigeria
Tanzania v Mozambique
Togo v Rwanda
Venezuela v Angola
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Asia World Cup Qualifying

-Wed Nov 19
Bahrain 0-1 Australia
Qatar 0-3 Japan
Saudi Arabia 0-2 Korea Republic
United Arab Emirates 1-1 Iran
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Oceania World Cup Qualifying

-Wed Nov 19
New Zealand 0-2 Fiji
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Even with this loss New Zealand has clinched the oceania championship and will now face off against the 5th place team in Asia for a spot in the World Cup. Whoever wins that series will be one of the worst teams to ever play in a World Cup.