Really Really Want It News

Graham Fox who has helped out here at du Nord when I have been traveling launched his own blog on Monday. It's called Advantage Played. He starts with a month by month review of the 2008 MLS season. I think you will enjoy this.

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The 2009 MLS season will open on Thursday March 19 with new club Seattle Sounders hosting the New York Red Bulls.


France Football's Ballon d'Or

The 2008 France Football Ballon d'Or goes to Cristiano Ronaldo. No surprise there. This award is also known as the European Footballer of the Year.
-Here are the top 5 vote getters:
1 Cristiano Ronaldo - Portugal - Manchester United - 446 points
2 Lionel Messi - Argentina - Barcelona - 281 points
3 Fernando Torres - Spain - Liverpool - 179 points
4 Iker Casillas - Spain - Real Madrid - 133 points
5 Xavi Hernandez - Spain - Barcelona - 97 points
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James Lawton of the Independent says Lionel Messi's maturity makes him a more complete player than Cristiano Ronaldo.
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Copa Sudamericana

Finals
2nd leg Match & Score (with 1st leg score included):
-Wed Dec 3
Internacional v Estudiantes (1-0)
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MLS Team News

COLUMBUS CREW

The team has taken the option on the contract to retain Guillermo Barros Schelotto for next season. His rumored salary ($600,000) is high enough that he would need to be classified as a Designated Player.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

The team released midfielders Joe Franchino & Alvaro Pires.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Goal.com has some quotes from South American newspapers that coach Juan Carlos Osorio may be about to jump ship. Oof. His quotes are pretty harsh.
-Brain Lewis of the NY Post on his blog Extra Time then asks Osorio about these quotes. JCO of course says he is not going anywhere.
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REAL SALT LAKE

Because of the odd number of teams in the league next season (15) at least one team will be off each week. On opening weekend that will be RSL.
-Their home opener looks to be Apr 2 v Columbus.
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SEATTLE SOUNDERS

The Daily Pilot of Newport Beach & Costa Mesa CA has a Q & A with Brad Evans who just joined the Sounders via the expansion draft from new champions Columbus Crew.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Elliott Almond of the Mercury News has quotes from team owner Lew Wolff who says the size of their stadium will be reduced in size. Now they are talking 15,000 seats. Huh?? Can someone remind we why the league went back to San Jose again?
-Other sources report that the owners of a NHL San Jose Sharks have bought a very small ($2-3 million) share in the Equakes.
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GENERAL

Andrea Canales at Goal.com bids farewell and good luck to Ivan Gazidis, the leagues long time #2, who is now the CEO of Arsenal.
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Sports Illustrated weekly column The Limey gives us an English perspective on MLS Cup and a few words from NYRB coach Juan Carlos Osorio.
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Jeff Bradley at MLSnet gives us his First XI - a look back while looking forward.
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MLS 2009 Season/Home Opening Games

Here are the first home games of the season for all 15 teams. Which game are you headed out to? I will be in KC again this year carrying on my long time tradition.
(Note: there will be more games scheduled for weeks 2 and 3)
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Week 1
-Thu Mar 19
Seattle v New York
-Sat Mar 21
Houston v Columbus
Kansas City v Toronto
Dallas v Chicago
Chivas v Colorado
San Jose v New England
-Sun Mar 22
Los Angeles v DC
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Week 2
-Sat Mar 28
Columbus v Toronto
DC v San Jose
New York v New England
Colorado v Kansas City
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Week 3
-Thu Apr 2
Salt Lake v Columbus
-Sat Apr 4
Toronto v Seattle
New England v Dallas
-Sun Apr 5
Chicago v New York
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MLS Generation Adidas Team

Again this year the league will send a select team of their best young talent to England for a week of matches, training, and taking in the big time professional culture of world football.
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Roster:
G:
Josh Lambo - FC Dallas
Chris Seitz - Real Salt Lake
D:
Tony Beltran - Real Salt Lake
Amaechi Igwe - New England Revolution
Bakary Soumare - Chicago Fire
Rob Valentino - New England Revolution
Marvell Wynne - Toronto FC
M:
Eric Avila - FC Dallas
Roger Espinoza - Kansas City Wizards
Bruno Guarda - FC Dallas
Alex Nimo - Real Salt Lake
Ciaran O'Brien - Colorado Rapids
Anthony Wallace - FC Dallas
F:
Abdus Ibrahim - Toronto FC
Yura Movsisyan - Real Salt Lake
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1 more player, which my guess says is a forward, is still to be added to the team.
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Coach:
Frank Yallop - San Jose Earthquakes
Asst Coach:
Ian Russell - San Jose Earthquakes
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Here is their general schedule:
-Sat Dec 6
Arrive in London
Attend EPL game
-Sun Dec 7
Training sessions at Chelsea Academy
-Mon Dec 8.
Match v West Ham Reserves
-Tue Dec 9
Training, and a tour of Stamford Bridge & Chelsea museum
-Wed Dec 10
Match v Chelsea Reserves
Attend Champions League match - Chelsea v CFR Cluj
-Thu Dec 11
Match v Aston Villa Reserves
-Fri Dec 12
Attend Chelsea first team training
-Sat Dec 13
Sightseeing
-Sun Dec 14
Return to United States
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MLS Exhibition Matches

-Sat Dec 6
Oceania All Stars v Los Angeles Galaxy - in Auckland New Zealand - on TV here live at 12:30am on FSC
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Here is the Galaxy roster:
G:
Josh Saunders
Josh Wicks
D:
Sean Franklin
Michael Gavin
Leonard Griffin
Chris Klein
Mike Randolph
Troy Roberts
Julian Valentin
M:
Ely Allen
David Beckham
Eddie Lewis
Brandon McDonald
Mike Munoz
Josh Tudela
F:
Tristan Bowen
Alan Gordon
Bryan Jordan
Jovan Kirovski
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MLS Expansion News

Philadelphia officially broke ground on the building of their stadium yesterday. The Philadelphia Inquirer with an article.
-Columnist Negative Nancy pours cold water on everyone.
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USL First Division News

All has been pretty mum from USL HQ. Nothing on the folding of Atlanta. Nothing on Montreal's failed MLS bid. Nothing on the possible promotion of Cleveland to the First Division this year. Just nothing. Would be nice to hear something.
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USA U20 News

Goal.com tells us about little known midfielder Giusseppe Nazzani, who plays for the reserves at Bologna in Italy.
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Soccer In America

TRANSFER RUMORS

Marcus Hahnemann to Tottenham??
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UPCOMING MATCHES

Wed Dec 3
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - v Tottenham - Carling Cup quarterfinals
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard Liege - v Sampdoria - UEFA Cup
Thu Dec 4
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - v MSK Zilina - UEFA Cup
-Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - v MSK Zilina - UEFA Cup
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Mexico & FMF News

Apertura Semifinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 3
Cruz Azul v Atlante
-Thu Dec 4
Santos Laguna v Toluca
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included)
-Sat Dec 6
Atlante v Cruz Azul
-Sun Dec 7
Toluca v Santos Laguna
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England News

The Independent looks into just how bad the financial crush is for English clubs right now.
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Louise Taylor of the Guardian wonders if Roy Keane has just about worn out his chances to remain coach at Sunderland. I highly doubt it.
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John Ashdown of the Guardian with the news from the lower leagues.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports writes about the continued rise in quality of Man U's Wayne Rooney.
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European News

FRANCE

Ben Lyttleton of the Guardian on the past week in Ligue 1, including the ascent of Rennes. And why can't any of these teams score goals?
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GERMANY

Jack Bell of the New York Times with an article on Vedad Ibisevic and his team Hoffenheim - the story of the season in Europe! And this guy played 2 seasons in the PDL!
-You can read Bell's Q & A with Ibisevic on the Times blog Goal. Fantastic stuff!
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Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian on the bad run at Schalke that has the fans baying at the moon.
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ITALY

Coppa Italia Match & Score:
-Wed Dec 3
AC Milan v Lazio
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SPAIN

Sid Lowe of the Guardian on Getafe's amazing derby win over Real Madrid.
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OTHERS

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian with an article on Serbian -star-in-the-making Zoran Tosic. Remember the name.
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Europe's Top Goal Scorers

17 Vedad Ibisevic - Hoffenheim
14 Samuel Eto'o - Barcelona
13 Mounir El Hamdaoui - AZ Alkmaar
12 Nicolas Anelka - Chelsea
12 David Villa - Valencia
11 Matthew Amoah - NAC Breda
11 Kris Boyd - Rangers
11 Frank Demouge - Willem II Tilburg
11 Grafite - Wolfsburg
11 Patrick Helms - Bayer Leverkusen
11 Diego Milito - Genoa
10 Claudio Pizarro - Werder Bremen
10 Danijel Pranjic - Heerenveen
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UEFA Champions League

Barcelona (only team to have locked down a #1 seed), Manchester United, Villarreal, Arsenal, Porto, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Lyon, Bayern Munich, Juventus & Real Madrid have all qualified for the knock out rounds. But #1 & #2 seeds are still up for grabs in most groups.
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The final group stage Matchday, #6, will be played Dec 9 & 10.
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Both spots in Group A, and one spot each in Group B & C are still up for grabs.
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Group Standings
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UEFA Cup

Matchday 4 (of 5) games will be played this week on Wed 3 & Thu 4. Here are those matches.
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Group Standings
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This Is The End

Check it out - Twin Brothers:
-Gaear Grimsrud of Fargo aka Peter Stormare
and
-The Arsenal Goalkeeper aka Manuel Almunia