Crash The Gate To The Floor News

Argentina News

The 3 team playoff for the Apertura title is all set. They finished tied at #1 on points and the league does not use tie breakers to settle the difference - they play the games on the field! And neutral fields at that.
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Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 17
San Lorenzo 2-1 Tigre - SL goals by Pablo Barrientos & Gonzalo Bergessio. Tig goal by Leandro Lazzaro.
-Sat Dec 20
Boca Juniors 3-1 San Lorenzo - Boca goals by Lucas Viati, Rodrigo Palacio & Cristian Manuel Chavez. SL goal by Santiago Hernan Solari.
-Tue Dec 23
Tigre v Boca Juniors - played at Estadio President Peron, in Cordoba, home of AC Cordoba. - Live at 4:30pm central on FSC.
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So what happens if Tigre wins on Tuesday and all 3 teams end up with 1 win and 1 loss. Then, unlike the regular season they will use goal differential as the first tie breaker.)
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Goal Differential:
-Boca Juniors (+2) - 1 played
-Tigre (-1) - 1 played
-San Lorenzo (-1) - 2 played
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Tim Vickery of Sports Illustrated on the new phenomena of Brazilian and Argentine football co-mingling. We could be on to something quite cool here.
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The New York Times blog Goal with a look at this unique playoff.
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MLS Team News

COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Dispatch on target="new" ONCLICK="out=false"the promotion of Robert Warzycha from assistant to head coach.
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Bob Hunter of Dispatch on the failings to re-sign Sigi Schmid, and the decent 2nd choice of Warzycha.
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FC DALLAS

Richard Snowden of Soccer 365 on Kenny Cooper's potential move out of MLS and back to Europe. And Landon Donovan to head back to Germany as well.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Chronicle says the Dynamo are pushing hard to sign Mexican forward Luis Landin.
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The team has also cut loose back up keeper Tony Caig who was one of the worst the league has ever seen.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Richard Snowden of Soccer 365 on Landon Donovan's potential move out of MLS to Germany. And Kenny Cooper to head back to Europe as well.
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SEATTLE SOUNDERS

The team has announced that their former First Division coach Brian Schmetzer, the original Stray Cat himself, will be an assistant coach to Sigi Schmid.
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The Sammamish Review, a small town newspaper in Washington state, has an article on Schmid, who's brother lives in the town.
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TORONTO FC

Gerry Dobson of Sports Net speculates on the start of 09.
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GENERAL

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer tells us about how the league HQ is handling the tough economy.
-What about some of the clubs themselves.
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MLS College Draft Talk

Brian Lewis of the NY Post on his blog Extra Times writes about former NYRB Academy player Matt Kassel who may leave Maryland early and sign with MLS.
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

The Coventry Telegraph with word of a possible Scottish target forward for San Jose.
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One time Korean star Ahn Jung-hwan is supposedly being sought after by a more than one MLS team. I find that hard to believe.
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MLS Stadium Talk

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle on the staggering inability of the city of Houston government officials to step up and help make a new stadium a reality.
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Team USA

Ives Galarcep at ESPN Soccernet lists who he thinks will be included in the annual January Team USA training camp. They usually gather in LA the weekend after the 1st, and this year conclude with a Jan 24 match at the Home Depot Center v Sweden (who will be playing mostly their domestic players as well.)
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USA U17 News

Kristian Dyer at ESPN Soccernet with an article on goalkeeper coach Paul Grafer.
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Soccer In America

Andrew Dixon at the US National Soccer Players Assoc hands out his thumbs DOWN for 2008. Right on the money.
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Americans In Europe

Greg Seltzer at Soccer 365 talks to Alejandro Bedoya who has just signed with Orebro in Sweden. Charlie Davies of Hammarby has been a big help to the newcomer.
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MOST RECENT MATCHES
(only players who saw the field are listed)

English Premier League
-Tim Howard - Everton - played all 90 and got another shut out as they drew 0-0 at home against Chelsea.
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Canada & CSA News

Sports Net with an article on what it costs the CSA to fly their players around the world and put them up in hotels for the World Cup qualifiers. Julian de Guzman found room for complaint, but no one else did.
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England News

Looks like it is worst case scenario on the injury front for Arsenal midfielder and captain Cesc Fabregas. His knee injury will need surgery and keep him off the field until the final month of the season.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times looks at the arrival of Beckman in Italy, and the Englishmen who went before him.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports grades the Prem teams at the midway point of the season.
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England has lined up a friendly in February against Spain in Seville.
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European News

SPAIN

Stumbling Almeria has hired world class blowhard Mexican Hugo Sanchez as their new head coach.
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Spain will join forces with Portugal for a joint 2018 World Cup bid.
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Spain has lined up a friendly in February against England in Seville.
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The Weekends Biggest Club Matches From Around The World

Premiership
-Fri Dec 26
Aston Villa v Arsenal - a clash of title hopefuls
Tottenham v Fulham - a London derby
-Sun Dec 28
Fulham v Chelsea - yes, another London derby
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Scottish Premier League
-Sat Dec 27
Rangers v Celtic - the final Old Firm derby of the calendar year.