Window You Can't See Through News

Chris Henderson, technical director of Seattle Sounders talks to the Seattle Post Intelligencer about hiring a new coach: "We finished our interview process and now we're getting poised to make the announcement of the new coach.". Hello Sigmund.

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Huge congrats go out to the USA U20 Women who won the U20 World Cup on Sunday, beating North Korea 2-1!!!

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Another champion crowned this weekend was Sao Paulo in the Brasileiro! This is their 3rd in a row, and 6th overall!

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Do you realize that MLS spring training begins in about 7 weeks?

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It will be Cruz Azul v Toluca for the Mexican Apertura title.

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Do you want to hear me babbling on the radio about this game we all love so much? See below in the Important Podcasts section for all the details


MLS Team News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card reports that defender Wilman Conde has sold all his possessions in Chicago, disconnected his cellphone and left the country - for good.
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Nick Firchau who cover the Fire for the Chicago Sun Times decided to give it a go at the teams open try out last week. He got his ass handed to him. I love stories like this, thanks Nick!
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Blanco ran out of his magic beans and his temporary home at Santos Laguna came to an end when they were knocked out of the Apertura semifinals by Toluca on Sunday.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

The Galaxy has cranked up their Spanish language website. I guess I just assumed they already had one.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives talks to forward Juan Pablo Angel about last season and next. And yes, the player confirms, he played the final game with an injury just like the rumors said he did.
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SEATTLE SOUNDERS

Still no word about Sigi Schmid becoming the teams coach. It was confirmed that he met with the team in Seattle last week on Thursday, and possibly Friday too.
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Jose Romero of the Seattle Times on his blog Sounders FC has some images from the teams uniform unveiling party, and Drew Carey on the catwalk.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

The Mercury News reports that the team is negotiating a new contract with goalkeeper Joe Cannon. But will they be able to sign him??
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TORONTO FC

TFC's shirts for next year will include "a subtly embossed Maple Leaf (on) the front". Very cool. Here is a team video of the unveiling.
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Ben Knight formerly of the Globe & Mail has launched out on his own with Onward - Ben Knight's Soccer Blog. Today he looks at BMO Field and wonders where the stadium is headed next.... Expansion most likely.
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GENERAL

Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated says the financial crisis combined with the surprising rise in value of the US Dollar will keep some American players from finding European teams.
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Andrea Canales of Goal.com notices that the great stadium/crap stadium divide is increasing in MLS.
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Last week Richard Snowden of Soccer365 told us what he thought of relegation/promotion for the league, so today he goes after the salary cap.
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MLS Generation Adidas Team

The league has sent 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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Matches & Scores:
-Mon Dec 8
Reading Reserves 1-0 MLS-GA - Read goal by David Mooney.
-Wed Dec 10
Chelsea Reserves v MLS-GA
-Thu Dec 11
Aston Villa Reserves v MLS-GA
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Davide Somma of the San Jose Earthquakes was the 16th and final player added to the MLS-GA roster at the last minute.
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MLS Exhibition Matches

-Sat Dec 6
Oceania All Stars 0-3 Los Angeles Galaxy - in Auckland New Zealand - LAG goals by Jovan Kirovski, Alan Gordon & Brandon McDonald.
Post game notes from the LA Galaxy official blog.
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Soccer365 has 3 tasty bits of news.
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College News

Men's College Cup - from Pizza Hut Park in Frisco TX.

Semifinals
-Fri Dec 12
Wake Forest v North Carolina - 4:30pm central on ESPN2
Maryland v St Johns - 7pm central on ESPNU
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Final
-Sun Dec 14
Winners - 12 Noon central live on ESPN2
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post has an article on Omar Gonzalez the latest sensational Maryland player who looks to be leaving college early for the pros. His parents are Mexican.
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USL First Division News

I somehow completely forgot to write about his when it went down 2 weeks ago. Well actually I didn't forget, I thought I did post it, then someone said I didn't and when I went back to check, sure enough I never posted. So a huge apology to all involved, because this was big news to me:
Former Minnesota Thunder great player and coach Amos Magee (who was just inducted into the USL Hall of Fame!) has been named director of soccer development and an assistant coach with the Portland Timbers. He is joining up with his old friend Gavin Wilkinson to build for Portland's future, which could include MLS. Fantastic for Amos Magee, truly one of the great people I have ever met. Hope it's a blast Amos! Magee told a friend of mine that I would probably heckle him mercilessly next year when the Dirty Stinky Hippies come to town, but honestly there is no way I could heckle that guy, he is just too cool. (Unlike there headcoach who deserves to be heckled beyong reasonable taste.)
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Continuing on the Amos Magee tip, Our friend BQ at Inside Minnesota Soccer has an interview with Magee about the past, present and future.
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And on another Portland Timbers story - The teams long time mascot Timber Jim was honored by some national association as the 2008 Mascot of the Year. Awesome. He retired this season. (thanks to Brian for letting us know)
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Inside Soccer Minnesota also had two posts last week examining the state of the USL, and what has kept them from moving forward as a league at a better pace. We linked to both parts right here on du Nord - search through the past few days you will find them. Now I thought I would share my own brief thoughts on the subject:
One thing to keep in mind is that it’s quite possible the reason USL is so bad at communicating with the press and the fans etc is because no one from the media at large has ever really asked them any questions.
No one outside of a small group of dedicated fans has taken an interest in the league and the teams at all really.
I am not saying this is even a mildly valid reason for their poor media performance, but I do think it’s legitimately part of the overall picture.
And now with people starting to ask more and more questions, their lack of answers seems more glaring.
Another weakness is that the folks behind the USL may be great self starters, but they are not great self promoters.
Some self starters actually think it’s disgusting to be self promoting. They see it as a form or arrogance, as opposed to seeing it as a grassroots building process. They can’t see that it can be both commercial and "Of the people, by people."
That attitude of altruism is all well and good -, but it doesn't really fly in the real world.
And it’s not like USL doesn't want to succeed commercially. And they don't want to lose
teams and money every year. They want to grow, but just maybe their idealism gets in the way some times.
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Austin has announced that they will play their home games next year at Nelson Field. The stadium has field turf - boooooooooo.
-See the stadium here via Google Maps.
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USA U17 News

The always popular Nike Friendlies took place in Lancaster CA this past weekend. Here are the USA games:
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Matches & Scores:
-Fri Dec 5
USA 0-3 Brazil - Braz goals by Gerson & Coutinho(2).
Match report from US Soccer.
-Sat Dec 6
USA 3-3 Australia - USA goals by Dominick Sarle(2) & Joseph Gyau. Aust goals by Nikola Stanojevic, Joseph Costa & Kerem Bulut(PK).
Match report from US Soccer.
-Sun Dec 7
USA 1-2 Brazil - USA goal by Jack McInerney. Braz goals by Wellington & Joao Pedro.
Match report from US Soccer.
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Those are not really the kind of results I was hoping to see.
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The USA v Australia game was delayed from Friday due to the death of Australia's coach Martin Crook (heart attack). Strangely, the Australian Football Federation website makes no mention at all of Crook passing away. But there is acknowledgment of it in their official match report.
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Americans In Europe

Great news - Frank Simek was back in the starting 11 for Sheffield Wednesday for the first time in almost a year due to an ankle surgery!
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TRANSFER RUMORS

Only the finest in backroom whispers from Greg Seltzer of No Short Corners.
-And Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog Soccer Insider reports that Nordsjaelland will hold a press conference to introduce new signing Michael Parkhurst from the New England Revolution on Tuesday.
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Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives tells us that Chad Marshall of the Columbus Crew is at Mainz in Germany right now talking about a potential deal.
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Galarcep writes for ESPN Soccernet about the other MLS players who may be gone to Europe in January.
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UPCOMING MATCHES

German Bundesliga 2
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - at Nurnberg on Monday.
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MOST RECENT MATCHES
(only players who saw the field are listed)

France Ligue 1
-Freddy Adu - Monaco - came on as a sub in the 81st minute as they drew at home 1-1 with Sochaux.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes - went the distance but were held 1-1 at Caen, causing them to drop to 3rd place.
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Spanish La Liga
-Jozy Altidore - Villarreal - went the full 90 and helped the team come back from a 0-3 deficit to draw 3-3 at home against Getafe.
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Scottish Premier League
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - started and played 79 minutes of a 7-1 destruction of some team called Hamilton Academical. Is that even fair?
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German Bundesliga 1
-Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach - came in as a sub in the 63rd minute, but they were beaten at home 1-3 by Bayer Leverkusen.
-Neven Subotic - Borussia Dortmund - went the full 90 and drew 0-0 at Arminia Bielefeld.
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German Bundesliga 2
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - played all 90 minutes but lost at Alemania Aachen 2-0.
-Grover Gibson - Rot Weiss Ahlen - came on as a sub in the 64th minute but lost at home 1-2 to Osnabruck.
-Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - went the distance grabbing another clean sheet, 0-0 at Duisburg.
-Matt Taylor - Koblenz - played the whole game but lost 3-2 at St Pauli.
-David Yelldell - Koblenz - played the entire game but fell at St Pauli 3-2.
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Dutch Erstedivisie
-Charles Kazlauskas - TOP Oss - went the full 90, even scored his teams goal(!!) and drew 1-1 at Veendam.
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Belgian Jupiler League
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played the entire match but lost at home 1-2 to Zulte-Waregem.
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Austrian Bundesliga
-Preston Zimmerman - Kapfenberg - went the distance in a 3-1 home win over Mattersburg.
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English Premier League
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played all 90 and drew 1-1 at home against Manchester City.
-Brad Friedel - Aston Villa - played the entire game as usual and squeaked out a 2-3 win at Everton.
-Tim Howard - Everton - went the distance and lost 2-3 at home to Aston Villa.
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English Championship Division
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went the full 90 and won 0-1 at Barnsley.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - back into the starting 11! He played the full match as they drew 1-1 at Southampton.
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English League One
-Jemal Johnson - MK Dons - came on as a 71st minute sub but lost at home 0-2 to Scunthorpe United.
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - did not play, but was back enough from injury to at least make the bench, and they won 3-2 at home over Bristol Rovers.
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Danish SAS Ligaen
-Dan Califf - Midjtylland - started and went 71 minutes, getting a Yellow Card, as they drew 1-1 at Sonderjyske.
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - came on as a 72nd minute sub but they lost 1-2 at home to Aalborg.
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - at Nordsjaelland on Monday.
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Caribbean Championship

The teams are split into 2 groups and play a round robin format within that group. The top 2 from each group move on to the semifinals, and also qualify for next summers Gold Cup.
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Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 3
Trinidad & Tobago 1-2 Grenada - T&T goal by Cornell Glen. Gren goals by Kithson Bain & Ricky Charles.
Jamaica 2-1 Barbados - Jam goals by Dane Richards & Luton Shelton(PK). Barb goal by Riviere Williams.
-Thu Dec 4
Guadeloupe 1-2 Cuba - Guad goal by Lery Hanany. Cuba goals by Reysandry Fernandez & Roberto Linares.
Haiti 1-1 Antigua & Barbuda - Hai goal by Sony Norde. A&B goal by Peter Byers.
-Fri Dec 5
Barbados 1-2 Trinidad & Tobago - Barb goal by Gregory Goodridge. T&T goals both by Errol Mcfarlene(both on PKs) .
Jamaica 4-0 Grenada - Jam goals by Eric Vernan, Luton Shelton, Andy Williams & Demar Phillips.
-Sat Dec 6
Haiti 2-3 Guadeloupe - Hait goals by Jean Michel Boucicaut,(PK) & Raymond Enderson. Guad goals by Mickael Antoine-Curier, Mickael Nicoise & Jean Luc Lambourde.
Cuba 3-0 Antigua & Barbuda - Cuba goals by Yenier Marquez, Roberto Linares & Jaine Colome.
-Sun Dec 7
Grenada 4-2 Barbados - Gren goals by Kithson Bain(3!) & Marcus Julien. Barb goals by Norman Forde & Riviere Williams.
Jamaica 1-1 Trinidad & Tobago - Jam goal by Eric Vernan . T&T goal by Errol Mcfarlane.
-Mon Dec 8
Antigua & Barbuda v Guadeloupe
Cuba v Haiti
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Official web site
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The top 2 from each group advance to the semifinals of this tournament, AND to next Summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup.
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Group A - All 3 Games Played
adv - 7 Jamaica
adv - 6 Grenada
- - - - - -
out - 4 Trinidad & Tobago
out - 0 Barbados
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Group B - 2 Games Played
adv - 6 Cuba
3 Guadeloupe
1 Haiti
1 Antigua & Barbuda
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Mexico & FMF News

Apertura Semifinals
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included)
-Sat Dec 6
Atlante 1-1 Cruz Azul - Cruz advance to Final 4-2 on aggregate. - Atl goal by Giancarlos Maldonado. Cruz goal by Cesar Villaluz.
-Sun Dec 7
Toluca 2-1 Santos Laguna - Tolu adv 2-1 on agg. Tolu goals by Edgar Duenas & Hector Raul Mancilla. SL goal by Edgar Castillo.
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Apertura Final
-Wed Dec 10
Cruz Azul v Toluca
-Sat Dec 13
Toluca v Cruz Azul
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I know you are all preeeeeeeety fired up about InterLiga, the tournament that determines which Mexican teams qualify for Copa Libertadores next year. Well you only have to hold your breathe a little longer because it kicks off on Fri Jan 2. Yipeeeeeeee! What? Oh, you're not fired up about it? Ok then. Never mind.
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South America News

For the 4th year in a row Libertad has won the Paraguayan championship.
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Brazil

Sao Paulo has won the Brazilian championship for a record 6th time. This is also their 3rd in a row!
-The last game of the season in the Brasileiro was this past weekend and 2 teams had a shot at the title (includes results against final 4 opponents of the season):
75 Sao Paulo (W 3-1 v Figueirense, W 1-2 at Vasco da Gama, D 1-1 v Fluminense, W 0-1 at Goias)
72 Gremio (W 2-1 v Coritiba, W 4-2 at Vitoria, W 1-4 at Ipatinga, W 2-0 v Atletico MG)
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Argentina

We come down to the last round of the Argentine Primera season with 4 teams still in it, and 3 of them tied at #1!!!
-Here are the standings, and next weeks opponents:
36 San Lorenzo - at Argentinos Juniors
36 Tigre - v Banfield
36 Boca Juniors - v Colon de Santa Fe
34 Lanus - v San Martín de Tucuman
-A playoff ensues if teams are tied on points.
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Last years champions River Plate are in dead last place. What a disaster for them.
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England News

The Observer talks to AEG (LA Galaxy owners) top chef Tim Leiweke about the future of sports in the UK.
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Goalkeeper David James writes for the Guardian about the role of the modern TV football commentator.
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The Guardian review the lower levels of English football this week.
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The Telegraph tells us more about one of the really bright star of the future in England - Aston Villa's Ashley Young.
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The News of the World (when have I ever linked to them before?) with word on new Arsenal boss Ivan Gazidis's plans for when he takes charge on Jan 1. (thanks to Tim J for sending this to us.)
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European News

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the future of two European warhorses - Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports looks at the hot little stories from Europe right now.
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GERMANY

The Bundesliga website has a big review of the Bayern Munich victory over Hoffenheim last Friday. It was a very big night for German fussball.
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Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian writes about Bayern v Hoffenheim, the great battle at the top, and the rest of the Bundesliga. Hoffenheim were pretty great in the biggest game in club history (by a mile), but once Bayern tied the game, you could tell there was no way the Hoff could stop them from winning it either. Let's hope that when these two meet again in late spring that just as much is still on the line.
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Deutsche Welle reports that the Bundesliga will shorten their winter break next season drastically from 6 weeks to 3 weeks, to allow players time to rest ahead of the World Cup.
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Werder Bremen forward Claudio Pizzaro has been given a 3 game suspension for a Red Card he received on Saturday for "violent conduct".
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ITALY

Ibracadabra takes the idea of passing the ball to a whole new level, not unlike the goal he scored a few weeks back. Watch this insane stuff.
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Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on Diego Milito & Genoa, and the rest of Serie A.
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Football Italia with a round up of Serie A Round 15.
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Alberto Cerruti of La Gazzetta rates the performance of each Serie A this week. Inter tops the list.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Milan's boy striker they call The Duck - Alexandre Pato.
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NETHERLANDS

Leander Schaerlaeckens of the Guardian on Klaas Jan Hunterlaar departing Ajax and the other inevitable Eredivisie news.
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SPAIN

An astonishing 44 goals were scored in the 10 La Liga games this weekend!
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Sid Lowe of the Guardian fills us in on the last week in La Liga including yet another crushing blow for Real Madrid, now 9 points behind the leaders (who they have to play on the road next week.)
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Many Real Madrid fans are calling on team president Roman Calderon to resign.
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Phil Ball of Soccernet looks at the potential catastrophe waiting in La Liga if the allegations of match fixing go somewhere. And a little about the games from the weekend too.
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Get ready - next Saturday is Barcelona v Real Madrid! It kicks off at 3pm central time on GolTV.
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The Weekends Biggest Club Matches From Around The World

Italy Serie A
-Sat Dec 6
Lazio 0-3 Inter - #4 hosted #1 but got taught a lesson - it's not how much you possess the ball, it's what you do with your chances that counts.
-Sun Dec 7
Sampdoria 0-1 Genoa - of course Diego Milito scored that goal that won the Genoa derby aka Derby della Lanterna.
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Germany Bundesliga
-Fri Dec 5
Bayern Munich 2-1 Hoffenheim - despite the win Bayern still trails on goal differential.
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Spain La Liga
-Sat Dec 6
Barcelona 4-0 Valencia - the train keeps a rollin all night long with a Henry hattrick.
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France Ligue 1
-Sat Dec 6
Marseille 2-1 Nice - tied at #3 going in, Mars jump to #2 and only 3 points behind leaders Lyon.
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UEFA Champions League

The group stage comes to a conclusion this week.
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Matchday 6 Matches & Scores
-Tue Dec 9
Chelsea v CFR Cluj
Roma v Bordeaux
Panathinaikos v Anorthosis
Werder Bremen v Inter Milan
Basel v Sporting
Barcelona v Shakhtar Donetsk
PSV Eindhoven v Liverpool
Marseille v Atletico Madrid
-Wed Dec 10
Manchester United v Aalborg
Celtic v Villarreal
Steaua Bucuresti v Fiorentina
Lyon v Bayern Munich
Porto v Arsenal
Dynamo Kyiv v Fenerbahce
Juventus v BATE Borisov
Real Madrid v Zenit St Petersburg
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Group Standings
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UEFA Cup

Matchday 4 (of 5) games were being played last week on Wed 3 & Thu 4. Here are those Matches & Scores.
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15 of the 24 teams have already advanced before the last Matchday. Here they are:
-Ajax, Aston Villa, Braga, CSKA Moscow, Galatasaray, Hamburg, Manchester City, Metalist Kharkiv, Milan, St Etienne, Standard Liege, Twente Enschede, Udinese, Valencia, & Wolfsburg.
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The finale of the group stage is Matchday 5, which will be played on Wed Dec 17 & Thur Dec 18.
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Group Standings
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FIFA Club World Cup

The FIFA Club World Cup is coming December 11-21 from Japan.
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Asian News

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times on the future and India and football.
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Important Podcast

Last week on Thursday Brian Forbes of the Denver Post hosted Marcello Balboa's radio show From The Pitch. He had some great guests including some guy who does a blog called du Nord. The highlight of the show is former Colorado Rapids defender, now back with the Red Bulls in New York, going off on the Rapids medical staff for their treatment of him over ankle surgery. Petke is one of the best interviews in the history of this league as it is, but to hear him this fired up is pretty amazing. Great stuff from Brian, and a huge thanks to him for inviting me on the air. Download or listen here.