Trapped Without A Chucker News

MLS Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis was named CEO of Arsenal Football Club today. Here is the news from the team website. He begins his new job on January 1.

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I have to admit that I am baffled by some writers that are defending the Montreal Impact's low ball bid for a new MLS team. To my way of thinking it's pretty simple - the asking price is $40 Million US. If you don't think a team is worth that much, then don't bid. 5 others seem to think that amount is just fine. Why are the Saputo's of Montreal special? And really, if you read between the lines, they also wanted to subtract the amount of money it would take to upgrade their current stadium to MLS size from their money bid. And Saputo claims that he has no idea why his bid was tossed out so unceremoniously. Now that is what I call being out to lunch.


Some Final Notes From MLS Cup 2008

Just wanted to give a big thumbs up to every one who made the MLS Cup weekend such a great time:

My travel partners:
-AJ and KJ.

My friends who we met up with and rocked all weekend:
-Joe J and Champion DanG.

The friends we met up with for partying:
-Sacha, Arianne and Mark.

The friends we ran into and invited to sit with us at the game:
-Morgan and Jimmy.

Then all the folks I met with some connection to this blog, some were old friends, some new (in roughly the order I encountered them):
-Dave Martinez - the Offside - on our plane
-Mark Fishkin - the King of Fish
-Empire Supporters Club - all the great people I met, sorry I don't remember so many names - except Swampy, how can you forget that!
-Shep Messing - the brilliant broadcaster from MSG & MLSnet, Playgirl Magazine model.
-Greg Lalas - Goal.com, MLSnet, New England Revolution TV
-Peter - MLS Phoenix Rising
-Chivas USA Union Ultras - John & Co. were amazing
-Beau Dure - USA Today, The Netminder
-The guy from the Witness Protection Program who hosted the Supporters Summit
-Angel City Brigade
-Sam Pierron - Kansas City Wizards
-Paul - the Screaming Eagles guy who seems like he is too good for everyone else
-Brian Dunseth - Bumpy Pitch, the Original Winger
-Alexi Lalas - himself
-Shawn Francis - the Offside Rules
-Will Kuhns - MLS
-Susan Marshall - MLS
-Luis Bueno - Press Enterprise, MLSnet, Sports Illustrated, the Touchline
-Grant Wahl - Sports Illustrated
-Jack Bell - New York Times & Goal
-Steven Goff - Washington Post & Soccer Insider
-Bill Archer - Maybe It's Just Me...Kryptonite to Stupid
-Dan Loney, his wife who's name I idiotically forgot & their new daughter Sophia - Dan Loney Says It All
-David Lindholm - Chivas USA
-The gang from the Bleacher Report
-Alex Gutierrez - the Offside
-Jaime Cardenas - now with the LA Galaxy
-Jason Scott - Columbus Crew
-Ives Galarcep - Soccer by Ives & ESPN Soccernet
-Michael Kammerman - US Soccer
-Steve Sirk - Sirk's Notebook
-Shooter, Bill, Steve & Karen, and all the rest of the LA Riot Squad!
-Peter Wilt - Chicago Red Stars
-Dave Denholm - American Soccer Show, Dave Denholm Podcast, ESPN 710
-Andrea Canales - Goal.com

Two others worth mentioning that I saw and kinda interacted with:
-Julie Foudy was getting ready for the ABC pregame TV show when she walked by me, so I stopped her, and told her to "Have some fun!" Huh? What was a I saying that for?
-Drew Carey was marching through the crowd holding a Seattle scarf over his head and looking very anonymous. But I noticed that he was marching straight toward MLS deputy dawg Ivan Gazidis, so I walked over to Carey and slapped him on the shoulder to say Hi. I think I hit him a little too hard, cuz he just looked at me like, "why did you just hit me?", and then kept right on cruising toward Gazidis.

And finally, two guys who helped me with getting the great seats:
-Evan and Dan

A big apology to anyone else I forgot. Drop me an email and I will acknowledge your greatness to the world.
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CONCACAF Champions League

The last Group Stage Match & Score:
-Wed Nov 26
Houston Dynamo v Luis Angel Firpo
Match preview by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Pre game analysis by Glenn Davis of the Chronicle.
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The advancing team will join Marathon, Cruz Azul, UNAM Pumas, Atlante, Montreal Impact, Santos Laguna & Puerto Rico Islanders in the quarterfinals beginning next spring.
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MLS Seattle Expansion News

The Sounders added 10 players today via the Expansion Draft. Here they are:
(listed alphabetically, with the order they were picked listed after their former team name)
-Brad Evans - Columbus Crew - 10
-Nate Jaqua - Houston Dynamo - 1
-Stephen King - Chicago Fire - 9
-Jeff Parke - New York Red Bulls - 3
-James Riley - San Jose Earthquake - 8
-Khano Smith - New England Revolution - 5
-Jarrod Smith - Toronto FC - 4
-Nathan Sturgis - Real Salt Lake - 2
-Peter Vagenas - Los Angeles Galaxy - 6
-Tyson Wahl - Kansas City Wizards - 7
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It looks more and more likely that Sigi Schmid who just led Columbus to the title will be the teams first head coach. Schmid is out of contract with Columbus, and negotiations for a new deal have not gone well.
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MLS Team News

CHICAGO FIRE

Nick Firchau of the Sun Times gives the Fire supporters known as Section 8 some mainstream attention in their battle to secure the $25,000 they say the team owes them on ticket sales commissions and the loss of a massive banner. The supporters are preparing a lawsuit to be filed against their own team next week.
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COLUMBUS CREW

I am still beating myself over the head for picking Columbus to finish dead last in the East in my preseason picks. What an idiot!
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The Dispatch with photos from the Cup final. Especially check out #17 - shows Chad Marshall right after he scores the game winning goal, rocking the twin devil horns!
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You can order a poster of the front page of Monday's Dispatch. This is what it looks like.
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Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch looks at who the Crew need to shore up contracts with this offseason.
-Mitchell on his blog Covering the Crew has more on Schelotto's contract situation.
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Mitchell on his blog with even more team notes.
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Bob Hunter of the Dispatch tries to put some historical perspective on the Cup win.
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Mitchell on the celebrations once the team returned to Columbus.
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Michael Arace of the Dispatch writes about the importance of the Cup win to the city of Columbus.
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Arace on his blog with a story from the parking lot before the game kicked off.
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Pat Walsh of Goal.com says that Cbus has many question marks that need answering before we can consider them the immediate favorites for next season.
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Andrea Canales of Goal.com piles some more of that well deserved praise on to Schelotto.
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REAL SALT LAKE

The team has bought centerback Jamison Olave from Deportivo Cali where they had him on loan from this past season, and have signed him to a 4 year contract.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Word from England is that midfielder Darren Huckerby will be spending time with Lowestoft Town of England's Eastern Counties Football League Premier Division (waaaaaaaaaaaaaay down the ladder) to keep in shape during the MLS offseason. He will NOT be playing games for them, just staying in shape.
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GENERAL

Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated with An Ode To Passionate MLS Fans.
-And to add to Greg's list, I have to tip my hat to the LA Riot Squad for turning out in such big numbers and singing very loudly all game long. Then there was the pond of orange just to the east of the Red Bulls fans - 20 odd Houston supporters together at the game even though their team was embarrassed by said Red Bulls. Those Union Ultra's actually provided the drum corp for the Nordecke West. And a couple people I know counted shirts from all 12 other MLS teams who were not in the final - that's cool. Not to forget the dozens decked out in Boca Juniors shirts cheering on their beloved Guille. And finally me, and my friends, and all the other random fans from around the world that turn up at the final every year no matter where it is held and have a glorious 4 day weekend!
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Luis Bueno of Press Enterprise addresses the leagues changes for next season, and examines the continued weaknesses.
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MLS Post Season Awards

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze gives out his own brand of acknowledgments, both positive and negative.
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MLS Expansion News

The Portland area weekly paper Willamette Week with an article on MLS Portland bidder Merritt Paulson.
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Jeff Cooper & Co who are bidding for a team in St Louis have announced the name of the WPS team, which we all assume will have similar name and colors to any MLS team they may get. The team name is Athletica, and the colors are forest green and navy blue. Interesting.
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Youth Soccer News

Chelsea has teamed up with yet another American youth soccer club. This time it's the Los Angeles Futbol Club (LAFC). The clubs name will be changed to LAFC Chelsea. They are based in Simi Valley, CA.
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Team USA

Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune writes what we are all thinking about - which cold weather city will host USA v Mexico on Feb 11 2009?
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Americans In Europe

Greg Seltzer of Soccer 365 talks to little known American goalkeeper Colin Burns of Norwegian club Ljungsklie who just finished his first season as a pro.
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Mexico & FMF News

1st Round 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Sat Nov 29
San Luis v Santos Laguna (3-1)
Atlante v UANL Tigres (1-1)
-Sun Nov 30
Toluca v UAdG Tecos (0-0)
UNAM Pumas v Cruz Azul (0-0)
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Copa Sudamericana

Finals
1st leg Match & Score:
-Wed Nov 26
Estudiantes v Internacional
2nd leg Match & Score (with 1st leg score included):
-Wed Dec 3
Internacional v Estudiantes (-)
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The Weekends Biggest Club Matches From Around The World

England Premiership
-Sat Nov 29
Middlesbrough v Newcastle - the Tyne-Tees derby.
-Sun Nov 30
Manchester City v Manchester United - the Manchester derby.
Chelsea v Arsenal - the 2nd biggest London derby.
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Italy Serie A
-Sun Nov 30
Roma v Fiorentina - Two teams with a lot of talent but are struggling. With plenty of season left, this could be a turning point.
Inter Milan v Napoli - the top team v the biggest surprise this season.
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Spain La Liga
-Sat Nov 29
Sevilla v Barcelona - a challenger takes on the league leader.
Getafe v Real Madrid - a lesser Madrid derby.
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Germany Bundesliga
-Sat Nov 29
Bayer Leverkusen v Bayern Munich - #2 v #3.
-Sun Nov 30
Stuttgart v Schalke - strong contenders every year lately.
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Turkey Super Lig
-Sat Nov 29
Fenerbahce v Besiktas - old bitter rivals.
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UEFA Champions League

Group Stage Matchday 5 (of 6) Matches & Scores
-Tue Nov 25
Villarreal 0-0 Manchester United
Aalborg 2-1 Celtic - AaB goals by Caca & Gary Caldwell(OG). Celt goal by Barry Robson.
Bayern Munich 3-0 Steaua Bucuresti - BM goals by Miroslav Klose(2) & Luca Toni.
Fiorentina 1-2 Lyon - Fior goal by Alberto Gilardino. Lyon goals by Jean Makoun & Karim Benzema.
Fenerbahce 1-2 Porto - Fen goal by Kazim Kazim. Port goals both by Lisandro.
Arsenal 1-0 Dynamo Kyiv - Arse goal by Nicklas Bendtner.
Zenit 0-0 Juventus
BATE Borisov 0-1 Real Madrid - RM goal by Raul.
-Wed Nov 26
Bordeaux v Chelsea
CFR Cluj v Roma
Inter Milan v Panathinaikos
Anorthosis v Werder Bremen
Shakhtar Donetsk v Basel
Sporting v Barcelona
Atletico Madrid v PSV Eindhoven
Liverpool v Olimpique Marseille
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Group Standings
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UEFA Cup

All the Matchday 3 (of 5) games will be played on Thu Nov 27 and are listed here.
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Group Standings
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