Some News for Fri Nov 13, 2009

2009 DU NORD MLS BEST 11

The 2009 du Nord MLS Best 11 will be announced on Sunday night at 6pm Central time live on the United Mania Podcast, with Martin Fernandez, Mike Martin & Chris Webb! Hear it live at United Mania then, or download the podcast of the show later.

STARTERS

MLS Semifinal #1 is tonight! Where will you be watching? Los Angeles Galaxy v Houston Dynamo. Two of the leagues very best will duke it out.

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The U17 World Cup final is on Sunday featuring host country Nigeria facing off against Switzerland.

MLS PLAYOFF NEWS

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports talks to Houston's Stuart Holden about his teams plans to beat LA, and then what the future holds.

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Rogers also sees the designated players of the league having a big impact on this years playoffs.

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Joseph D'Hippolito writing for the Houston Chronicle looks at LA's big time player Landon Donovan.

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Bernardo Fallas of the Chronicle feels that few beyond the Dynamo and their fans are pulling for them to make the final - it's all about Beckman.

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Fallas with lots of Houston and LA related notes.

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Fallas does a position by position comparison of the teams.

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Jerome Solomon of the Chronicle gives two thumbs up for Houston coach Dominic Kinnear.

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Grahame Jones of the LA Times previews Galaxy v Dynamo.

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Jones looks at the impact Beckman has had on his LA team this year.

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Phil Collin of the LA Daily News previews tonights matchup.

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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise previews Los Angeles.

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Nick Fichau of the Chicago Sun Times thinks Real Salt Lake will be a very tough challenge for the Fire.

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Sam Stejskal of Chicao Now with a preview of Chicago v Salt Lake.

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James Edward of the Deseret News feels that RSL will not be conservative just because they are the road time - they want to attack, and that's good cuz that's when they are at their best (and us fans like watching attacking soccer.)

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Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune writes that RSL will try to use last year's Semifinal loss as a learning and motivational tool against Chicago.

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Lewis with various RSL team notes.

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Behind the Shield - the official blog of Real Salt Lake.

The Los Angeles Galaxy - official blog.

En Fuego - the official blog of the Chicago Fire.

MLS PLAYOFF SCHEDULE

Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Nov 13
Los Angeles Galaxy v Houston Dynamo - 10pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
-Sat Nov 14
Chicago Fire v Real Salt Lake - 7pm Central on FSC
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL

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Final
Match & Score:
-Sun Nov 22
7:30pm Central on ESPN

TEAM USA

Note from our friend Anthony in Glasgow who will in Bratislava for this weekends game against Slovakia: "Anyone wanting to try to buy tickets to sit together on Sat or just wanting to get together before the match to have some drinks and food, let's meet at the Slovak Pub starting at 10am - Anthony"

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Team's official blog, and official YouTube page.

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International Friendlies
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Nov 14
Slovakia v USA - 9am Central on FSC
-Wed Nov 18
Denmark v USA - 1:30pm Central - TV TBA

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Here is the USA roster
G:
Brad Guzan - Aston Villa
Marcus Hahnemann - Wolverhampton
Troy Perkins - Valerenga
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - Rennes
Jonathan Bornstein - Chivas USA
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover
Jimmy Conrad - Kansas City Wizards
Clarence Goodson - Start
Frankie Hejduk - Columbus Crew
Chad Marshall - Columbus Crew
Heath Pearce - FC Dallas
Jonathan Spector - West Ham
M:
Michael Bradley - Monchengladbach
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Benny Feilhaber - AGF Aarhus
Sacha Kljestan - Chivas USA
Dax McCarty - FC Dallas
Robbie Rogers - Columbus Crew
F:
Jozy Altidore - Hull City
Conor Casey - Colorado Rapids
Jeff Cunningham - FC Dallas
Eddie Johnson - Fulham

WORLD CUP QUALIFYING NEWS

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune previews the winner-moves-on/loser-goes-home nature of the qualifiers all around the world this weekend.

CONMEBOL/CONCACAF WORLD CUP QUALIFYING PLAYOFF

This 2 legged playoff will determine a spot in the World Cup.

1st Leg
-Sat Nov 14
Costa Rica v Uruguay
2nd Leg - with 1st Leg scores included
-Wed Nov 18
Uruguay v Costa Rica - (-)

AFRICA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING

The last round of qualifiers:
-Sat Nov 14
Group A
Togo v Gabon - Gabon (9 pts & +3 gd) win and have Cam lose or tie and win goal difference
Morocco v Cameroon - Cameroon (10 pts & +5 gd) win, Gab loss, or win and Gab tie, or lose and Gab tie and win goal difference
Group B
Mozambique v Tunisia - Tunisia (11 pts & +4 gd) is in with a win or tie and Nig lose
Kenya v Nigeria - Nigeria (9 pts & +4 gd) must win and have Tun lose or win, Tun tie, and win goal difference
Group C
Egypt v Algeria - both (Alg 13 pts & +7 gd/Egy 10 pts & +3 gd) Algeria wins, or Egypt wins and wins goal differential while Alg loses.

Goal Differential is the first tie breaker.

Ghana (Group D) & Core d'Ivoire (Group E) have already captured 2 of the 5 available spots.

UEFA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING PLAYOFFS

Matches & Scores:
1st Leg
-Sat Nov 14
Ireland v France
Portugal v Bosnia-Herzegovina - 2:30 Central on Setanta
Greece v Ukraine
Russia v Slovenia - 10am Central on Setanta
2nd Leg - with 1st Leg scores included
-Wed Nov 18
France v Ireland - (-)
Bosnia-Herzegovina vPortugal - (-)
Ukraine v Greece - (-)
Slovenia v Russia - (-)

ASIA/OCEANIA WORLD CUP QUALIFYING PLAYOFF

This 2 legged playoff will determine a spot in the World Cup.

2nd Leg - with 1st Leg score included
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Nov 14
New Zealand v Bahrain (0-0) - 2am Central on FSC

MLS

Phil Collin of the Daily Breeze reports on Preki leaving as head coach of Chivas USA.
-This had been rumored to be happening for quite a while now.

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Nick Green of the Daily Breeze has words from departing Chivas USA head coach Preki, on his blog 100 Percent Soccer.
-The article also contain words from Chivas USA midfielder Jesse Marsch on his health and future.

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The Washington Post brings us up to date on DC United's search for a new head coach.
-Possible candidates are Curt Onalfo, Richie Williams, Caleb Porter of Akron, and Chicago's Denis Hamlett.

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Seattle midfielder Freddie Ljungberg has his second column for ESPN Soccernet, this time on the "quality" of fields around MLS.
-By the way, did you know that former President George W Bush was at the Houston v Seattle game. I only found out because Freddie Ljungberg wrote about it. Pretty cool.

AMERICANS IN MEXICO

Coming Up:

The final round of this season.

PRIMERA DIVISION
Edgar Castillo - UANL Tigres - Sat Nov 14 at Pachuca
Michael Orozco - San Luis - Sat Nov 14 at Queretaro
Jose Francisco Torres - Pachuca - Sat Nov 14 v UANL Tigres
Marco Vidal - Indios Juarez - Sun Nov 15 at UNAM Pumas

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UANL, San Luis & Pachuca are all still alive for one of the last 3 playoff spots. Indios however are by far the worst team in the league with only 5 points, 10 behind their nearest competitor. And you thought the Red Bulls of New York were bad this season.

MEXICO

Toluca, Cruz Azul, Morelia, Santos Laguna, America, Monterrey and Puebla have clinched playoff spots, and are awaiting 3 more.

Then the bottom 4 square off with the 2 winners joining the top 6.

BRAZIL

With 4 rounds left to play in the Campeanato Brasileiro there are an astonishing 10 teams still technically alive for the title.

Standings - after 34 of 38 games played:
59 Sao Paulo - Next: Sat Nov 14 v EC Vitoria
58 Palmeiras - Next: Wed Nov 11 v Sport
57 Flamengo - Next: Sun Nov 15 at Nautico
56 Atletico MG - Next: Sat Nov 14 at Cortiba
54 Cruzeiro - Next: Sat Nov 14 v Gremio
53 Internacional - Next: Sun Nov 15 v Santos
50 Avai - Next: Sun Nov 15 v Corinthians
49 Corinthians - Next: Sun Nov 15 at Avai
48 Gremio - Next: Sat Nov 14 at Cruzeiro
47 Goias - Next: Sun Nov 15 v Esporte

U17 WORLD CUP NIGERIA

Official web site

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Final
Match & Score:
-Sun Nov 15
Switzerland v Nigeria

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Bracket

CLUB WORLD CUP

The draw for this years tournament was held on Thursday. The games will be played in Abu Dhabi.

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 9 - Match 1
Al Ahli FC v Auckland City FC
-Fri Dec 11 - Match 2
TP Mazembe v Pohang Steelers FC
Sat Dec 12 - Match 3
winner Match 1 v Atlante FC
-Tue Dec 15 - Semifinal
Winner Match 2 v Estudiantes de La Plata
-Wed Dec 16 - Semifinal
Winner Match 3 v FC Barcelona
-Sat Dec 19
Final