Sherlock Holmes Churns His Own Butter News

Sigi Schmid will be officially introduced as the first Seattle head coach on Tuesday.

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Toluca are the 2008 Mexican Apertura champions! The final series ended 2-2 on aggregate with Cruz Azul. And Los Diablos Rojos won it 7-6 on Penalty Kicks!

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Maryland are the 2008 NCAA Champions. Congrats Terps!

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At least someone in the world of MLS club is listening to me - and that someone is my namesake Bruce Arena. According to reports from Argentina, the Galaxy made an offer for attacking midfielder Andres D'Alessandro of Internacional. He is a great one, and can be had for a relative bargain price. But his club said NO. Will LA give up. Man I hope not. Go get him Bruce.


MLS Team News

CD CHIVAS USA

The teams official blog has been doing light end of the year Q & A's with several team players. Just scroll down to read answers from Jim Curtain, Dan Kennedy, Justin Braun, Paulo Nagamura (in Spanish), Jesse Marsch & Francisco Mendoza (also in Spanish).
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COLORADO RAPIDS

The Online Gooner (Arsenal supporters site) reports that Rapids owner and Arsenal board member Stan Kroenke turned up at the annual Arsenal Supporters Trust Holiday Gathering. Wow. You think he might show up at the Class VI Xmas Party? They say he was a good guy too!
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COLUMBUS CREW

The Crew got money out of the Seattle Sounders to drop their tampering charges claim on former coach Sigi Schmid.
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Jeff Carlisle at ESPN Soccernet feels that Columbus can continue on their same winning path even without Schmid.
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FC DALLAS

Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree has the full transpript of a Q & A session that coach Schellas Hyndman did with the local media. Extremely indepth stuff here.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

So Houston gives up on it's top player Dwayne De Rosario! They sell him to Toronto (at an average price, not even big money) so he can go home and end his career there after a couple more seasons. OK, thats pretty cool of them. And they get a young center back with potential in Julius James. OK, but we have no idea if he is really any good or not. We won't know until late next November if this was folly or fortuitous.
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The one thing is certain - it made Toronto better instantly.
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But really, why oh why in the wide world of sports would you ship DDR off to Toronto for so little in return? Does Dom Kinnear know something we don't? Is DDR past his sell-by date? We all know he has lots of quality still in him. Or is this just the sacrifice you have to make sometimes to move forward. Get something for him while you can, and use the money to get even more. That is the only logic that makes sense to me.
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My instincts tell me that this move to dump DDR will prove to be the right one this next season.
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Ives Galarcep of ESPN Soccernet says the deal to send DDR north of the border was instigated by the player himself.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Keith Costigan of Fox Soccer Channel does a Q & A with Rev's main man Steve Nicol. Thanks to Mark for giving us the heads up on this one from last week!
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SEATTLE SOUNDERS

It's interesting to see the newspaper from Olympia Washington, The Olympian, jump on to the Sounders band wagon. These are the type's of trends that need to grow in MLS.
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The Olympian in Washington on the personal qualities of goalkeeper Kasey Keller.
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With any potential tampering charges dropped by Columbus after money changed hands, Seattle is now free to announce Sigi Schmid as their first manager. When will it happen?
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TORONTO FC

Gareth Wheeler of the Toronto Sun likes the signing of DDR as a start. But then he foolishly proposes playing him on the left side of midfield. Come on Gareth! Do you watch the guy play, ever?
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Ives Galarcep of ESPN Soccernet says the deal to send DDR north of the border was instigated by the player himself.
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Did they get DDR in the biggest steal in MLS history?
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The story of the acquiring of Dwayne DeRosario by TFC from Larry Millson of the Globe & Mail, and Dean McNulty of the Sun and The Star.
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GENERAL

Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com gives us his look at teams in the Western Conference and what they need to get done this offseason. (Eastern Conf was last week.)
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Glenn Davis, on his blog today, hints that HDNet may not be broadcasting MLS again next season. It's a subtle blurb, but it's there.
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Street & Smith's Sport Business Journal with an article on conflicts arising between player agents, coach agents, the league and the law.
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Holy Smokes! The Sunday Mail of Glasgow reports that Celtic, Monaco, Heerenveen, FC Twente, Bayer Leverkusen, Schalke, Wolfsburg, Olympiakos and Zenit St Petersburg are all chasing after Sacha Kljestan. If any of this is true, then I think we have seen the last of him in MLS.
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Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer reports that the LA Galaxy are interested in Jamaican national team keeper Donovan Ricketts. That team needs a goalkeeper BADLY. He is currently without a team.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider reports on a Honduran player possibly headed to DCU.
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Soccer 365's Grapevine with a new Marcelo Gallardo rumor.
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MLS Expansion News

The Editorial Board of the Oregonian in Portland comes out strongly in favor of the city helping secure a MLS team. But they do propose things are simply not going to happen - such as having the team play at PGE Park in it's current state as a test run to see if building a new stadium is viable. Nope.
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College News

Maryland win the 2008 NCAA Men's College Cup - from Pizza Hut Park in Frisco TX.
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Semifinals
-Fri Dec 12
Wake Forest 0-1 North Carolina - NC goal by Brian Shriver.
Maryland 1-0 St Johns - Mary goal by Graham Zusi.
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Final
-Sun Dec 14
North Carolina 0-1 Maryland - Mary goal by Graham Zusi.
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Soccer In America

The Detroit Free Press has a nice article on the structure of soccer in America, then shows the short comings in their state of Michigan. The article talks about the lack of MLS, but that the state does have a professional indoor team, Detroit Ignition, and a PDL team, Michigan Bucks. They are totally forgetting about the lack of a USL1 or 2 team as well.
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Americans In Europe

Andrew Rogers at Soccer 365 does a Q & A with Frank Simek.
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A lot of American's are not playing these days across the continent. This is not what we want to read about. Look at all these players that we feel are or should be top flight who did not play this weekend due to injury or coach's decision:
Coach's Decision:
Freddy Adu
Bobby Convey
DaMarcus Beasley
Maurice Edu
Danny Szetela
Sal Zizzo
Injury:
Jay DeMerit
Marcus Hahnemann
Frank Simek
Jonathan Spector
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It's not all terrible though - The bad news in England is that there are a lot less American's in the Premiership this season. But the good news is that 3 of the 4 are starting every game and their teams are all in the top 10! Clint Dempsey at Fulham, Brad Friedel at Aston Villa & Tim Howard at Everton are all having quality seasons so far. And the 4th player is Brad Guzan who is waiting in the wings at AV.
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TRANSFER RUMORS

Greg Seltzer at Soccer 365 writes that Oguchi Onyewu may have multiple French suitors, and that Charlie Davies is going nowhere in January (too bad).
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Soccer 365's Grapevine with a new Zak Whitbread rumor.
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UPCOMING MATCHES

German Bundesliga 2
-Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - v Freiburg on Monday
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MOST RECENT MATCHES
(only players who saw the field are listed)

France Ligue 1
-Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - went the distance but were held to a scoreless draw at home by Nantes.
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Spain La Liga
-Jose Altidore - Villarreal - came on as a sub in 57th but lost 1-0 at Sevilla.
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Dutch Erstedivisie
-Charles Kazlauskas - Top/OSS - played all 90 and beat Haarlem 1-0 at home.
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German Bundesliga 2
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - went the full 90 as they drew at home 1-1 against Nurnberg.
-Grover Gibson - Ahlen - came on as a sub in 77th, got himself a Yellow Card, and lost at Greuther Furth 3-0.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - started and went 76 min at midfield as they won 1-0 at home over Wehen.
-Matt Taylor - Koblenz - started and played 67 minutes as they lost at home 0-1 to Ingolstadt.
-David Yelldell - Koblenz - went the distance but lost at home 0-1 to Ingolstadt.
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German Bundesliga
-Michael Bradley - Borussia Monchengladbach - started, played 59 minutes, got a Yellow Card, and lost 2-1 at Dortmund.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the distance but drew at home 1-1 with Arminia Bielefeld.
-Neven Subotic - Borussia Dortmund - went the full 90 and won 2-1 at home over Gladbach.
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English Premiership
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played the full 90 and drew at Stoke City 0-0.
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - went the entire match as always and won 4-2 at home over Bolton.
-Tim Howard - Everton - played the full match and won 0-1 at Manchester City.
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English Championship
-Eddie Johnson - Cardiff - came on as a sub in the 35th, then subbed back off in the 83rd as they won at Ipswich Town 1-2.
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England League One
-Jemal Johnson - Milton Keynes Dons - played all 90, scored his teams second goal and won at Brighton 2-4.
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - back from injury, came on as a 90th minute sub as they won 1-2 at Walsall.
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Belgium Jupiler League
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard Liege - played all 90 as they beat Club Brugge 1-4 on the road.
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Austria Bundesliga
-Preston Zimmerman - Kapfenberg - started, went 64 minutes, but lost at Josko Ried 3-0.
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Caribbean Championship

The Caribbean Championship was won by the host team Jamaica on Sunday, and also decides which 4 teams (the semifinalists) go to the Gold Cup next summer. Cuba & Guadeloupe will join the two finalists at the CONCACAF Championship tournament.
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Final
-Sun Dec 14
Jamaica 2-0 Grenada - Jam goals both by Luton Shelton on PKs.
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Official website
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As I watched the Jamaican players receive their winners medals I was blown away by how many are on MLS rosters:
Omar Cummings - Colorado
Tyrone Marshall - Toronto
Dane Richards - New York
Shavar Thomas - Chivas
Andy Williams - Salt Lake
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The Jamaica Gleaner has an interview with Jamaica & Toronto centerback Tyrone Marshall. (The article ran before yesterdays final.)
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Mexico & FMF News

It was far from easy, like I thought it might be, but Toluca are the Apertura champs, winning a title for the 9th time. They lost 0-2 to Cruz Azul after taking a 0-2 win in the first leg. So the game went to Penalty Kicks after extra time and Toluca won it 7-6.
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Apertura Final - 2nd leg (with first leg score included)
-Sun Dec 14
Toluca 0-2 Cruz Azul (2-0) - game ends tied 2-2 after extra time, and Tol wins it 7-6 on Penalty Kicks. CA goals by Alejandro Vela & Julio Dominguez Juarez.
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South America News

ARGENTINA

FIFA.com has a Q & A with long time Argentina national team worker bee Javier Zanetti.
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It came down to the last round of the Argentine Primera season and after the dust settled 3 teams ended up tied at #1!!!
39 San Lorenzo - 0-1 winners at Argentinos Juniors
39 Tigre - 1-0 winners at home v Banfield
39 Boca Juniors - 1-0 winners at home v Colon de Santa Fe
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In Argentina they don't settle the winner with goal differential or any of that sissy stuff. They settle it on the field! So this 3 way tie leads us to the first ever 3 way playoff.
3 games will be played on Dec 17, 20 & 23, each team playing twice, with opponents to be determined for each date. Will they all be played at neutral sights?
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England News

The well repected Patrick Barclay of the Telegraph says the English FA needs to establish a Code of Conduct for the fans. While I agree 100%, if the "Respect for Referees" campaign is anything to go by, then good luck making this happen, much less work.
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Two images of the proposed new Tottenham stadium in London. Instead of a stadium name on the side of the building, it literally says "Naming Rights". Brazen cash cow.
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European News

GERMANY

Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich both drew over the weekend, leaving them tied on 37 points at the winter break, but the Hoff lead on goal differential +19 to +15. If you have placed a wager on Hoffenheim to the win the "winter title" you would be collecting a tidy sum right now!
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The Bundesliga names the top player, coach, goalscorer, transfer and return player from the first half of the season.
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Raphael Honigstein of the Guardain on Hoffenhiem's finish on top for the winter break, and the rest of the highlights from the Bundesliga.
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The Observer with an article on the miracle of Hoffenheim.
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ITALY

Football Italia with a Round 16 review.
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Alberto Cerruti of La Gazzetta with team by team ratings of this weekends Serie A action.
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Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on the triumph of Juve's youngsters over Milan's oldsters, and the rest of the highlights from Serie A.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with long time Inter captain Javier Zanetti.
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NETHERLANDS

Leeander Schaerlaeckens of the Guardian on the train wreck of a season at Feyenoord, and the rest of the highlights from the Eredivisie.
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SPAIN

Phil Ball of ESPN Soccernet with his weekly column - El Clasico.
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John Molinaro of the CBC takes in the Classico on Saturday and gives us the run down of his entire day! Great stuff.
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Sid Lowe of the Guardian on Real Madrid's now officially crappy season, and the rest of the highlights from La Liga.
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The Weekends Biggest Club Matches From Around The World

La Liga
-Sat Dec 13
Barcelona 2-0 Real Madrid - Madrid's season is now truly hanging in the balance, while Barca are rocking!
-Sun Dec 14
Sevilla 1-0 Villarreal - #4 wins and becomes #3, while losing #2 drops to #4.
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Serie A
-Sun Dec 14
Juventus 4-2 Milan - the old & nasty rivalry battle leaves Juve alone in 2nd, 6 points behind Inter.
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Ligue 1
-Sun Dec 14
Lyon 0-0 Marseille - the scoreless draw leaves them unchanged at #1 & #2.
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Eredivisie
-Fri Dec 12
Ajax 3-0 NAC Breda - with outcome keeps Ajaz at #2, but drops NAC from #4 to #6.
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Premiership
-Sun Dec 14
Chelsea 1-1 West Ham - a London derby draw keeps Chels from taking over sole possession of the lead in England.
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UEFA Champions League

The draw for the round of 16 knock outs will be held on Fri Dec 19.
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UEFA Cup

Matchday 5 will take place on Dec 17 & 18. Here are those Matches & Scores.
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Group Standings
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World News

Jen Chang of ESPN Soccernet is one of those people with an opinion who shares it, which I love. He also dishes the dirt like a soccer edition of US Weekly.
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FIFA Club World Cup

The FIFA Club World Cup from Japan.
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Matches & Scores:
-Thu Dec 11
Adelaide United 2-1 Waitakere United - AU goals by Daniel Mullen & Travis Dodd. WU goal by Paul Seaman.
-Fri Dec 12
Al Ahly 2-4 Pachuca - AlA goals by Fausto Pinto(OG) & Flavio. Pach goals by Luis Montes, Damian Alvarez & Chaco Gimenez(2).
Sun Dec 14
Adelaide 0-1 Gamba Osaka - GO goal by Yasuhito Endo.
Wed Dec 17 - Semifinal
Pachuca v Liga de Quito - live at 4:30am central on Fox Soccer Channel
-Thu Dec 18 - Semifinal
Gamba Osaka v Manchester United - live at 4:30am central on Fox Soccer Channel
-Sun Dec 21 - Final
Winner 1 v Winner 2 - live at 4:30am central on Fox Soccer Channel
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Official web site
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Tim Vickery of the BBC gives us his insights into the importance of the Club World Cup.