Some News for Wed Oct 28, 2009

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STARTERS

American goalkeeper Brad Guzan had an absolutely HUGE game for Aston Villa last night in the English League Cup. He saved a Penalty Kick during regulation time, then saved 3 more during the PK Shoot Out to decide the winner!

MLS PLAYOFF NEWS

Great news for the Chicago Fire as centerback Wilman Conde looks to be healthy enough to play this weekend. But will they risk it on artificial turf?

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Jose Miguel Romero of the Seattle Times writes that the Sounders expected to make the playoffs from day one.

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The Seattle Post Intelligencer reports that Sounders keeper Kasey Keller suffered a minor ankle injury in practice yesterday. And several other notes on other players.

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The Sounders have added another 3000 seats for their home game on Thursday.

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The AP previews Seattle v Houston. Via USA Today.

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Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune looks at Real's real chances of a playoff run.

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James Edward of the Deseret News feels that last years playoff experience will help RSL this year.

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Orrin Schwarz of Chicago's Daily Herald on Chicago facing off against New England again, and again, and again and again.

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Beau Dure of USA Today previews the playoffs. He also has a great chart where he compares the strengths of each team.

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Jeff Carlisle of ESPN Soccernet looks at all 8 teams in the post season.

MLS PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

First Round playoff matches, home and away series:

1st Leg
WESTERN CONFERENCE
-Thu Oct 29
Seattle Sounder FC (3) v Houston Dynamo (2) - 9pm central on ESPN2
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
-Sun Nov 1
Chivas USA (4) v Los Angeles Galaxy (1) - 4pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
EASTERN CONFERENCE
-Sat Oct 31
Real Salt Lake (4) v Columbus Crew (1) - 5pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
-Sun Nov 1
New England Revolution (3) v Chicago Fire (2) - 1pm Central on FSC
Venue: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough MA

2nd Leg
EASTERN CONCERENCE
-Thu Nov 5
Columbus Crew (1) v Real Salt Lake (4) - 7pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
-Sat Nov 7
Chicago Fire (2) v New England Revolution (3) - 7:30pm Central on FSC
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
WESTERN CONCERENCE
-Sun Nov 8
Houston Dynamo (2) v Seattle Sounder FC (3) - 2pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
-Sun Nov 8
Los Angeles Galaxy (1) v Chivas USA (4) - 6:30pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA

MLS

Forward Robbie Findley of Real Salt Lake was named Player of the Week.

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Big Apple Soccer tells us what Red Bull star Juan Pablo Angel thinks about the rumors of Thierry Henry joining him in New York next season.

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Greg Seltzer of Soccer 365 gives us his list of the Top 5 Players who rose to occasion this season to make there team better. Some really good and interesting choices here.

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John Molinaro of the CBC does not mess around - he calls the state of TFC "rotten".

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The other two soccer writers at the CBC, Nigel Reed - and - Jason De Vos, also have their final say on the TFC season.

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Gerry Dobson of Sportsnet wonders how long Mo Johnston really has at the helm of TFC, and who could the next coach of the team be? Thanks to William for his one.

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While Ryan Johnston also of Sportsnet comes right out and blames Mo for the problems.

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Daniel Girard of the Toronto Star writes what TFC is looking for most at this point is a coach with MLS experience, not another outsider.
The list they give of potential candidates is a bit odd considering that all but 1 are currently employed as head coaches at other teams.

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The Washington Post with quotes from DC coach Tom Soehn on this season, and the future.

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Drew Hansen of the Washington Times looks at the changes needed for DCU to succeed next season.

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Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun has a few words from TFC's players union rep Nick Garcia about the new collective bargaining agreement they are trying to negotiate with the league.

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Ryan Young of the Kansas City Star addresses the Wizards off season needs. But how much change will there really be?

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Real Salt Lake announced their team's post season awards:
Nat Borchers - Most Valuable Player
Jamison Olave - Defender of the Year
Robbie Findley - Golden Boot (12 goals)
Robbie Russell - Humanitarian of the Year

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The Dallas Morning News with more on the firing of FC Dallas general manager Michael Hitchcock.
-The team plans to hire a technical director to help with player personnel.

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Got a good email from Evan today. I was wondering out loud the other day what leagues around the world average for goals per game (MLS is 2.54). I was simply too lazy to search it out, so Evan did it for me. Here is his note:
You said that MLS 2009 had 2.54 goals per game and wanted to compare that to other leagues. Here:
English Premier League 2008-2009: 2.48
Italian Serie A 2008-2009: 2.60
Greek Super League 2008-2009: 2.16
Australian A-League 2008-2009: 2.96
Japanese J-League 2008: 2.56
MLS is towards the middle and is in between two of the top leagues in the world, EPL and Serie A. You can use this link to do more leagues yourself.
Thanks Evan, I really appreciate it.

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Richard Snowden of Soccer 365 calls the MLS team's performances in the CONCACAF Champions League shamefull.

MLS STADIUM BUILDING

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Jack Bell of the New York Times gives us an update on Red Bull Arena where the last piece of grass was laid on Tuesday, and the team held a press conference. There is a nice animated video tour of the stadium too.

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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to Red Bull players about their new home - and they rave about it.

USA @ U17 WORLD CUP

Brent Latham at Yanks Abroad previews the 2nd USA group stage match v Malawi.

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Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald with a back ground story on Stefan Jerome.

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FIFA.com with a preview of the game against Malawi.

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Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Mon Oct 26
Spain 2-1 USA - Spa goals by Borja & Pablo Sarabia. USA goal by Jack McInerney.
-Thu Oct 29
USA v Malawi - 10am Central on ESPNU
-Sun Nov 1
USA v UAE - 9am Central on ESPNU

You can also watch all 3 games online at ESPN360.com

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Official Team Blog

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Group E
3 United Arab Emirates (+2)
3 Spain (+1)
0 United States of America (-1)
0 Malawi (-2)

USL FIRST DIVISION

The CBC reports that Vancouver is OUT of the USL First Division for the 2010 season. They are seeking to start a new league.

TEAM USA

Yanks Abroad talks to Jonathan Bornstein about being a Honduran hero.

AMERICANS IN EUROPE

The Birmingham Mail - and - the Birmingham Post both slobbered all over the great night in goal from Brad Guzan as he saved 4, yes 4 Penalty Kicks, 1 in regulation and 3 more in the Shoot Out to lead his team to the next round of the League Cup.

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Game Action: (only those that played are listed)

ENGLAND - League Cup
-Tue Oct 27
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa - went the distance saving 4 PK's and winning 1-4 in a shoot out after the game ended scoreless.
Tim Howard - Everton - played the full 90 but lost 2-0 at Tottenham.

NETHERLANDS - KNVB Beker
Charles Kazlauskas - Helmond Sport - went the distance as they cruised 5-0 at home over in the 3rd round cup match.

SCOTLAND - League Cup
-Tue Oct 27
DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - started and went 75 minutes as they won on the road at Dundee 1-3.

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Coming Up:

DENMARK - Landspokal
Dan Califf - Midtjylland - Wed Oct 28 at Esbjerg
Marcus Tracy - AaB - Thu Oct 29 at Hobro

GERMANY - DFB Pokal
Kenny Cooper - 1860 Munich - Wed Oct 28 v Schakle
Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - Wed Oct 28 at Werder Bremen
David Yelldell - Koblenz - Wed Oct 28 at Hoffenheim

SWEDEN - Allsvenskan Liga - this is the penultimate round of the season with both these teams sitting in the middle of the pack.
Alejandro Bedoya - Orebro - Wed Oct 28 at AIK
Ryan Raybould - Gelfe - Wed Oct 28 at Haken

ENGLAND

Meatheads reigned supreme last night in Barnsley as some Manchester United fans stormed the field after the game, while others ransacked the consession stands taking all the food and money. Not good.

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Portsmouth has officially been banned from the January transfer window over unpaid transfer fees from previous windows. This club is desperate for new money.

BIG MID-WEEK EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES

-Wed Oct 28
Juventus v Sampdoria - #3 in the standings hosts #2!

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Here is what the Fox Soccer Channel will be broadcasting next week on Matchday 4:
-Tue Nov 3
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea - 1:45pm Central
-Wed Nov 4
Rubin Kazan v Barcelona - 11:30am Central
Lyon v Liverpool - 1:45pm Central

U17 WORLD CUP NIGERIA

Official web site

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Group Stage
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Oct 24
Nigeria 3-3 Germany - Nig goals by Stanley Okoro, Kenneth Omeruo & Edafe Egbedi. Ger goals by Lennart Thy, Shkodran Mustafi & Mario Goetze.
Brazil 3-2 Japan - Bra goals by Guilherme, Neymar & Wellington. Jap goals by Yoshiaki Takagi & Kenyu Sugimoto.
Honduras 0-1 Argentina - Arg goal by Sergio Araujo.
Mexico 0-2 Switzerland - Swi goals by Pajtim Kasami & Jose Rodriguez.
-Sun Oct 25
Iran 2-0 Gambia - Ira goals by Payam Sadeghian & Kaveh Rezaei.
Colombia 2-1 Netherlands - Col goals by Fabian Castillo & Deiner Cordoba. Net goal by Oguzhan Ozyakyp.
Turkey 1-0 Burkina Faso - Tur goal by Muhammet Demir.
Costa Rica 1-1 New Zealand - CR goal by Joel Campbell. NE goals by Michael Built.
-Mon Oct 26
United Arab Emirates 2-0 Malawi - UAE goals by Marwan Al Saffar & Mohammad Sebil.
Spain 2-1 USA - Spa goals by Borja & Pablo Sarabia. USA goal by Jack McInerney.
Uruguay 1-3 S Korea - Uru goal by Sebastian Gallegos(PK). SK goals by Nam Seung Woo, Son Heung Min & Lee Jong Ho.
Algeria 0-1 Italy - Ita goal by Federico Carraro.
-Tue Oct 27
Argentina 2-1 Germany - Arg goals by Esteban Espindola & Sergio Aruajo. Ger goal by Mario Goetze.
Nigeria 1-0 Honduras - Nig goal by Abdul Ajagun.
Switzerland 4-3 Japan - Swi goals by Haris Seferovic(2), Granit Xhaka & Ricardo Rodriguez. Jap goals by Takumi Mihayoshi(2) & Shuto Kojima.
Brazil 0-1 Mexico - Mex goal by Miguel Basulto.
-Wed Oct 28
Netherlands 2-1 Gambia - Net goals by Luc Castaignos & Tom Boere. Gam goal by Ebrima Bojang(PK).
Iran 0-0 Colombia
New Zealand 1-1 Burkina Faso - NZ goal by Gordon Murie. BF goal by Victor Nikiema.
-Thu Oct 29
Turkey v Costa Rica
USA v Malawi
UAE v Spain
Italy v S Korea
Uruguay v Algeria

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Standings