Some News for Thu Jul 2 & Fri Jul 3

STARTERS

Note from CONCACAF:
"CONCACAF will give permission to any team who also is participating in the Confederations Cup in the same year to enlarge their roster to 30 from the 23 already permitted.”
Note from US Soccer:
"Jozy Altidore, Conor Casey, Ricardo Clark, Benny Feilhaber, Sacha Kljestan, Jonathan Bornstein and Brad Guzan will be eligible for selection during the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament; however, the U.S. will not have all seven players present for each Gold Cup match. The exact schedule for these players will be announced as it becomes available. Only 18 players will be eligible to dress for any given game."

dN

John Nicholson of Football 365 gives the USA performance at the Confed Cup and the growth of the game in our country a big thumps up. And then takes the opportunity to disparage Europeans who sneer at us like we are ignorant boobs who know little about "soccer". The one group of peopl he should have taken another aim it is Americans who don't give their domestic league a look or pay attention to the national team until they start winning at a MAJOR tournament because it's just not good enough for them. Otherwise an article to make us hardcore geeks very proud to follow the team we do.

dN

Yesterday the US Soccer federation held a press conference with coach Bob Bradley and president Sunil Gulati, and not one person brought up the rumor of Michael Bradley having a confrontation with the referee after the USA v Spain game last week in South Africa. Why is this getting so little play? Am I on drugs here, or what?

MLS

MLS Week 16 Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jul 3
Real Salt Lake v San Jose Earthquakes - 9pm Central on Direct Kick
-Sat Jul 4
Columbus Crew v D.C. United - 6pm Central on ESPN2 & ESPN Deportes
Colorado Rapids v Chicago Fire - 8pm Central on Direct Kick
Kansas City Wizards v Houston Dynamo - 8pm Central on Direct Kick
FC Dallas v New York Red Bulls - 8pm Central on Direct Kick
Los Angeles Galaxy v New England Revolution - 10pm Central on FSC & FSE

dN

Columbus Crew forward Guillermo Barros Schelotto was named the league June Player Of The Month. What a monster this guy have become and so amazing to watch. I love it.

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Online legal newsite Courthouse News reports that Seattle forward Nate Jaqua is being sued by a Portland OR woman who says she was sexually assaulted by him in 2007. Not good. (thanks to Barra Brava's twitter feed for the link)

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The Delaware County Daily Times gives us an update on stadium building in Philadelphia.

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Andrea Canales of Goal.com does a Q & A with LA Galaxy forward Landon Donovan.

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New England gives their seriously ailing roster some help today by signing Lithuanian forward Edgaras Jankauskas. The 34 year old has played many times for his national team, and for nearly 10 club teams around Europe in 18 seasons.

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Monique Walker of the Boston Globe writes about the Rev's serious drought of players due to injury.

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The San Jose Mercury News talks to Earthquakes keeper Joe Cannon about the teams huge struggles during the first half of the season.

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Nick Firchau of Chicago's Southtown Star with an article on Colorado goalkeeper Matt Pickens who left Chicago 3 seasons ago to pursue chances to play in Europe, and now to be back in MLS.

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Brian Lewis of the NY Post gives us the latest notes from Red Bull land - where the circus never ends.

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'Member Tim Hankison who was at one time head coach for Tampa Bay and then Colorado. He next went into the college game. Guess where he is today?? The Mumbai Mirror reports that Hanki has been hired as the new head coach of Salgaocar of Goa in India's I-League. Thanks kinda cool.

USL FIRST DIVISION

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jul 3
Cleveland City Stars v Austin Aztex
-Sat Jul 4
Miami FC Blues v Puerto Rico Islanders
Minnesota Thunder v Portland Timbers
-Sun Jul 5
Rochester Rhinos v Austin Aztex
Montreal Impact v Charleston Battery

dN

Standings:
28 Puerto Rico
27 Charleston
26 Portland
24 Carolina
20 Rochester
17 Montreal
16 Miami
- - Out of Playoffs - -
15 Vancouver
12 Austin
10 Cleveland
7 Minnesota

LAMAR HUNT US OPEN CUP

3rd Round (round of 16) Matches:
-Wed Jul 1
Austin Aztex 0-2 Houston Dynamo
Venue: Nelson Field - Austin, TX
Portland Timbers 1-2 Seattle Sounders FC
Venue: PGE Park - Portland, OR

dN

The tournament still have left: 4 MLS teams, 2 USL-1 teams, 2 USL-2 teams (which is incredible)

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Quarterfinal Matches:
-Tue Jul 7
DC United v Harrisburg City Islanders
Venue: Maryland Soccerplex, Boyds MD
Rochester Rhinos v Wilmington Hammerheads
Venue: Marina Auto Stadium, Rochester NY
Charleston Battery v Houston Dynamo
Venue: Blackbaud Stadium, Charleston SC
Seattle Sounders FC v Kansas City Wizards
Venue: Starfire Sports Complex, Tukwila WA

dN

Semifinals to be played on Jul 21 & 22
Final to be played on Sep 2

CONCACAF GOLD CUP

The North & Central American and Caribbean confederation's championship tournament kicks off on July 3. Canada v Jamaica and Costa Rica v El Salvador start the proceedings.

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Official Gold Cup Website

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Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his blog 100 Percent Soccer previews the tournament (which he finds to be pretty much a joke) and then links to some articles about teams other than the USA.

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Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet previews this years Gold Cup tournament, which he feels is lacking in any real significance.

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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America previews the tournament. Via Sports Illustrated.

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The CBC previews the tournament from a Canadian point of view.

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Mexico has had to drop forward Omar Arellano from their roster due to a foot injury.

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Group Stage Matches - Matchday 1:
-Fri Jul 3
Canada v Jamaica - 7pm Central
Costa Rica v El Salvador - 9pm Central
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Sat Jul 4
Honduras v Haiti - 6pm Central
Grenada v USA - 8pm Central
Venue: Qwest Field – Seattle WA
-Sun Jul 5
Panama v Guadeloupe - 4pm Central
Nicaragua v Mexico - 6pm Central
Venue: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum – Oakland CA

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See all the games on FSC & Univision/Galavision.

dN

Standings:
Group A
0 Canada
0 Costa Rica
0 Jamaica
0 El Salvador
Group B
0 Grenada
0 Haiti
0 Honduras
0 USA
Group C
0 Guadeloupe
0 Mexico
0 Nicaragua
0 Panama

TEAM USA GOLD CUP

Here is the audio of the Press Conference by USA coach Bob Bradley and federation president Sunil Gulati on Thu Jul 2.

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And audio of coach Bradley talking to reporters after training on Fri Jul 3.

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US Soccer has a transcript of comments from coach Bob Bradley after the teams first training on Jul 1 in preparation for the Gold Cup.

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Check out this schedule that the USA coaches have been on since the Final of the Confed Cup ended. This is insane.

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AP with an article about the teams return from South Africa, a new found confidence, and then switching gears in a big way for the Gold Cup. Good article.

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Ives Galarcep at ESPN Soccernet previews the USA at the Gold Cup.

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Jose Romero of the Seattle Times talks to Sounders midfielder Brad Evans about getting his shot with Team USA during the Gold Cup.

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The Atlanta Constitution Journal with an article on Ricardo Clark who has returned from the Confed Cup to join the Gold Cup team, AND just had a new baby daughter come into the world. HUGE!

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USMNT Official Blog

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Gold Cup Group Stage Matches:
-Sat Jul 4
USA v Grenada - 8pm Central on FSC
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
- Jul
USA v Honduras
Venue: RFK Stadium - Washington DC
-Sat Jul 11
USA v Haiti
Venue: Geillette Stadium - Foxborough MA

SOCCER IN AMERICA

ESPN Soccernet with the story of former UC Santa Barbara star player Eric Frimpong who was convicted of rape last year an dis now serving a serious jail sentence. Frimpong still insists he is innocent.

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The New York Times talks to Club America left fullback Edgar Castillo about his decision to try and play for Team USA after originally suiting up for Mexico.

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William Rhoden of the New York Times writes about the need to further diversify the players in Team USA. There are many more stones out there that need turning over, and welcoming into the fold.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

Soccer 365 has tons of rumors on player movement, and here are some of those possibilities:
-Oguchi Onyewu has a list of team supposedly chasing him that just gets longer by the day: Ajax, Parma, Portsmouth, Genoa and Livorno. Crazy
Greg Seltzer talks to Onyewu's agent who adds more teams to the mix.
-Seltzer says there is tons of interest in Clint Dempsey from all over Europe.
-Seltzer talks to Benny Feilhaber about his confidence from the Confed Cup as he heads back to Aarhus for another season in Denmark.
-And finally, Seltzer also talks to Jozy Altidore about Villarreal and loan options.
-Charlie Davies has attracted interest from Rennes, Sochaux & Saint-Etienne in France, Bochum & Hamburg in Germany, Hajduk Split in Croatia, and a Dutch top flight team.
-Conor Casey has drawn the eye of Karlsruhe in Germany, where he spent time on loan a few years ago.

dN

Soccer 365 also talked to the talented Mikkel "Mix" Diskerud of Stabaek in Norway who just played for the USA U20's and at some point will have to decide whether he wants to continue with the USA or play for his other nationality Norway.

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Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives with lots of rumors concerning our boys - Clint Dempsey (Everton & others), Oguchi Onyewu (Fenerbahce, Genoa & Ajax), Michael Bradley (Fulham & Everton), Jozy Altidore (Fulham, Olypiakos & loan deals) and Charlie Davies.

Soccer By Ives reports that Sal Zizzo could make a loan move from Hannover to Fortuna Dusseldorf.

ENGLAND

Manchester United has signed one time England superstar forward Michael Owen. Will they be able to rehab his nearly ruined career?

EUROPE

No chance of Ze Roberto from Bayern Munich coming to an MLS team this summer now - he has signed with Hamburg.

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Inter Milan has officially signed Argentine forward Diego Milito, and Brazilian midfielder Thiago Motta from Genoa. The team also announced that centerback Marco Materazzi has signed a new 3 year deal at the team. I have no idea why they would do that deal. He barely played last season and is already 35. He must be really cheap.

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UEFA.com has announced that the federation has given match referee's new power to deal with racism in games. It looks pretty good, but the test will come in the enforcement.

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Coach Dick Advocaat has officially left Zenit St Petersburg to take over as coach of the Belgian national team.

ARGENTINA

Amazingly its a two team race on the final week of the Argentine season, and those 2 play each other. Who planned that one? Great job.

See the game on Sun Jul 5 at 7pm Central on FSC!

Argentine Clausura Championship:
(1 game left to go)
38 Huracan - Final Game: Sun Jul 5 at Velez Sarsfield
37 Velez Sarsfield - Final Game: Sun Jul 5 v Huracan

COPA LIBERTADORES

Semifinals
2nd Leg Matches:
-Wed Jul 1
Nacional 1-2 Estudiantes - Est advance 3-1 on aggregate - Nac goal by Alexander Medina. Est goals both by Mauro Boselli.
-Thu Jul 2
Gremio 2-2 Cruzeiro - Cruz adv 5-3 on agg - Grem goals by Rever & Souza. Cruz goals both by Wellington Paulista.

dN

Final
1st Leg Match:
-Wed Jul 8
Estudiantes v Cruzeiro
2nd Leg Match:
-Wed Jul 15
Cruzeiro v Estudiantes

ENDERS

Re-posted By Popular Demand!

du Nord presents - The Shitter starring Lali Alexus


dN

Don't miss the original - The Sitter starring Alexi Lalas