Creepy Baby Talk News

Toronto FC's Carl Robinson talking to the BBC about his new team: "My first worry was what the standard would be like but I've been to the States and Canada on pre-season tours with Sunderland and both times we got thumped by teams below MLS level."


US Soccer prepares for friendly's v Ecuador & Guatemala:
-Bruce Arena will again be a part of the ESPN2 broadcast team for the Ecuador match, but his job as coach of some other team will keep him busy during Wednesday's Guatemala game.
-The US Players Assoc has a Q & A with Frank Simek who is attending his first ever Team USA camp.
-Official interview with West Ham defender Jonathan Spector that you can listen to on line or download via podcast.
-Quote sheets of both Bob Bradley & Oguchi Onyewu from yesterdays press conference.
-The team blog.
-I noticed this on the blog - "Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan and Kasey Keller are talking EPL shop". How much would you pay to hear that conversation???
-Ronald Blum of the Associated Press talks to Kasey Keller about the No. 1 shirt. (I also see where the answer to that brilliant question about Pablo Mastroeni's health that was asked during Bob Bradley's press conference yesterday made it into this story!)
-Ryan Boyd of the Bradenton Herald writes about Keller too. Another "old guy" story. Why are these people so unoriginal.
-Bill Ward of the Tampa Tribune with the Jay DeMerit story. You know the story. But most people in Tampa probably don't.
-Andrea Canales at Soccer365 says US soccer is looking for genuine home team support.
-Here is the Ecuador roster:
G:
Rorys Aragon - Standard Liege
Geovanny Camacho - Barcelona (of Ecuador)
D:
Oscar Bagui - Olmedo
Segundo Castillo - Red Star Belgrade
Ulises De La Cruz - Reading
Giovanny Espinoza - Vitesse
Jorge Guagua - Colon
Ivan Hurtado - Nacional
Neicer Reasco - Sao Paulo
M:
Luis Caicedo - Olmedo
Edison Mendez - PSV
Luis Saritama - America
Edder Vaca - LDU Quito
Luis Valencia - Wigan
F:
Felix Borja - Olympiakos
Felipe Caicedo - Basel
Carlos Tenorio - Al-Saad
Edmundo Zura - Imbabura
-A special note from that US Soccer blog: A first-hand account of this morning’s journey to and from breakfast as written by the driver, Mr. Jimmy Conrad: My alarm went off...again…so I put on my clothes, grabbed the keys, and headed to the parking lot. My 12-passenger maroon van with tinted windows loaded up and off to breakfast we went. I sped through the short cut, a back alley behind a grocery store, and Catfish Carl, T-bag, and Sven dared me to tag a helpless shopping cart with our big-ass bumper. When I swerved towards the target and barely missed, I got met with a number of expletives that indicated I am quite the coward. But what do they know? Sniff, sniff. I’ll show them.
On our way back from the land of eggs, bacon, and orange juice I was determined to prove that I wasn’t scared. So I put aside reason and common sense to make sure that the shopping cart was going down! We came around the corner and I stepped on the gas to let my passengers know I was serious. The blue plastic square with wheels came into sight and I lined up my plan of attack. As the van got close, some ducks waddled in front of my peer-pressured goal, but I was in it to win it so I continued my rate of speed. I was within striking distance and from the back of the van I heard the Catfish, T-bag, and Sven yell, “Watch out for the ducks! Please don’t hurt them!”
I jerked the steering wheel, averted the threat to avian lives, turned around, smiled, and said in an effeminate voice, “Watch out for the ducks!”
What a bunch of $%@!?# …
-OK, so from the previous story, Jimmy Conrad gives nicknames to three of his USA teammates - Catfish, T-bag, and Sven. Who do you think those three really are?
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Oh yeah, its a great day when you read The DCenters and their first story is about a brand new blog called Ben Olsen's Beard - absolutely brilliant! Thanks for this great named blog.
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Great picture of Dicks Sporting Goods Park with the lights on, and the "lettering" seats in place. AWESOME!
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Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer with an article on New York's desperate search for goal scorers. It's a great article with some juicy rumors, including Alecko Eskandarian asking Toronto to trade him.
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Lewis also reports on our former Thunder striker Ansu Toure - it looks like it will go down to the wire for him and his chances of making the New York squad. I would like to believe that Lewis is reporting this story just for us Thunder faithful.
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And thirdly Lewis attended the Red Bulls "Media Day" and comes back with even more little tidbits that us diehards love to lap up like "sweet creamery butter". Thank you Michael!
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger looks at New York's young star striker Jozy Altidore.
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Metrofanatic was present at Red Bulls Media Day and got no less than 11 player interviews! This one link will take you to a page linking them all. The players are: Claudio Reyna, Ronald Waterreus, Jeff Parke, Seth Stammler, Jozy Altidore, Jerrod Laventure, Dema Kovalenko, Marvell Wynne, Joe Vide, John Wolyniec & Tim Regan. Now that is what we like to see! 11 is also the number of time zones in the old Soviet Republic.
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Ives Galarcep previews the 07 Red Bulls for Soccernet.
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The Dallas Morning News tries to figure out the FDC starting line up. It looks like a work in progress, which is sad for a team that fired their coach last fall and then had the team GM Hitchcock make the statement that they were only a few minor tweaks away from being a top notch team. I guess major senior player removal is part of minor moves.
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The Sun Chronicle paper of Massachusetts with a story on New England's two young & talented but totally inexperienced strikers Adam Cristman and Chris Loftus.
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Chivas USA general manager Whit Haskel has resigned. Phil Collin of the Daily Breeze says Haskell is "starting a consulting firm for sports entertainment properties in the Hispanic market".
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Looks like young defender Hunter Freeman is being shipped by Colorado to the Red Bulls. No word on compensation yet.
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Dean McNulty at the Toronto Sun checks in with TFC coach Mo Johnston and asks how the team building is coming along.
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Toronto has released goalkeeper Jon Busch. He will now get a shot to catch on with Chicago.
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Andrew Hush of Soccer New England talks to Rev's keeper Matt Reis, and then goes over the teams injuries with coach Steve Nicol. No Shalrie talk though.
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I know you all will find this hard to believe, but Eric Wynalda and Alexi Lalas had things to say about Cobi Jones's retirement announcement. From Andrea Canales at LA Soccer News.
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On top of the rumor that Josh Gardner has been cut loose from Los Angeles (which the team has denied, but not really denied), there is another rumor that Alan Gordon was shown the door as well.
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Tino Palace's The Clean Sheet: Around The World. For this edition of the column, Tino was paid with a signed double LP of the Best of Oasis. Liam wrote, "Piss off you fookin toss pot" as his message. He always was the more foul mouthed of the Gallagher brothers, and this way you know the signature is authentic. Honestly, what else would you expect him to write? He is Liam Fuckin Gallagher - Man City fan.
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ESPN claims that all of their MLS games will be shown in hi-def.
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Kevin McGeehan at the US Players Assoc gives his thoughts on Fort Lauderdale's Lockhart Stadium which is scheduled to be torn down later this year. (The old place has a lot of sentimental value to some, and not so much to others.)
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The now annual Carolina Challenge Cup is happening this weekend. It pits the local Charleston Battery of the First Division against 3 MLS opponents. This year's participants are Houston, Toronto & New York. If you live near there, and you are not attending the matches, then you are a total loser. Reader Eric says: "My wife & I live a couple of hours away in Columbia but we always make it down for this preseason tournament. The Battery's stadium is one of the best in the country and the Three Lions pub above the stands has an unbelievable collection of football memorabilia."
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The Virginia Beach Mariners of the First Division have never set the league on fire before, and there is even less chance of them doing it now…. With the start of the season only a month away, the owner Mike Sidebottom shockingly pulled his financial backing out of the club yesterday, leaving all the players and staff stunned about what to do. The team had also recently hired former Dallas manager Colin Clarke to run the squad. Sidebottom only bought the team in mid-November. From the Virginia Pilot.
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The Trinidad & Tobago government has stepped in to fund the national soccer teams. But now it turns out that none of the players from last summers World Cup were paid their bonuses. Oh that loveable Jack Warner, good thing nothing controversial ever happens around him.
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CONCACAF Friendly's this weekend and next midweek:
Sat Mar 24
Costa Rica v New Zealand
Panama v Haiti
Guadeloupe v Trinidad & Tobago
Honduras v El Salvador
Sun Mar 25
Bermuda v Canada
Mexico v Paraguay
Barbados v Guatemala
USA v Ecuador
Mon Mar 26
Jamaica v Panama
Tue Mar 27
El Salvador v Honduras
Wed Mar 28
Chile v Costa Rica
Mexico v Ecuador
USA v Guatemala
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Copa Libertadores - here are the week's matches:
Mar 20
Cerro Porteno 2-1 Cucuta Deportivo
Real Potosi 2-2 Maracaibo
Caracas 0-4 Colo Colo
Mar 21
Flamengo 1-0 Parana
Banfield 3-1 America
Necaxa 1-1 Sao Paulo
-Match reports via Sports Illustrated.
Mar 22
Libertad - El Nacional
Boca Juniors - Toluca
Gimnasia - Santos
Emelec - Nacional
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The draw was held for the Spain Copa del Rey semifinals. Here ya go:
April 18 - first leg
Barcelona v Getafe
Sevilla v Deportivo La Coruna
May 9 - second leg
Deportivo La Coruna v Sevilla
Getafe v Barcelona
-Final will be played on June 23
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune previews the Euro 08 qualifiers slated for the next 7 days.
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And Simon Kuper at the Financial Times looks at how many people will be watching those qualifiers on TV.
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There are lots of African Nations Cup qualifiers being played over the next week. Here are the games schedules and group standings.
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You ever hear of an elite athlete missing a drug test, and then later blaming everyone else. Well after the last Champions League round Bayern keeper Oliver Kahn was picked at random to pee. Two hours later he still couldn't get a trickle going so he threw a hissy fit about the timing, saying he had just emptied his bladder before they told him he need to drop his drawers. The story goes that he went absolutely nuts on the doctor doing the test. A couple weeks later he apologizes. Why? Cuz UEFA was deciding whether or not to punish him. I guess he figured the apology would get him off the hook. No dice! UEFA has suspended him for 1 game, which will be v Milan. Silly boy.
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Tottenham are claiming Paul Robinson's goal last weekend v Watford was from 95 yards! Unbelievable. Actually, I don't believe it was that far out. Well I guess it could have been. What the hell do I know. Hopefully they used a laser for accuracy.
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Jonah Freedman at Sports Illustrated with the new World Soccer Power Rankings.
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Boca Juniors beat Gimnasia La Plata on Sunday, and my man Martin Palermo scored 4 times!

She Said Ooh Ee Ah Ah News

I am dead serious when I say that MLS teams should be going all out to sign these three Argentines, who are all worth the money. In order of importance: 1. Andreas D'Alessandro (Zaragoza - corrected), 2. Juan Roman Riquelme (Boca Juniors), and 3. Martin Palermo (Boca Juniors). Now I know that 98% of all the clubs in the world would want these players, but I am saying it's time for MLS to act serious and show they are not the J-League, K-League or A-League (which I don't mean as a slight to those leagues, but I guess it is).


US Soccer prepares for friendly's v Ecuador & Guatemala:
-A new Royal Blue shirt for Team USA was introduced today as "the Third kit". It has white pinstripes. I'm not so sure about this one. Looks like pajamas to me. Hopefully they will look better with the whole uniform on, and from a distance, like thru a television.
-Lots of official training photos to see.
-For all you statistics & rankings fans - here are the latest rankings from Elo (Which I prefer) & FIFA of the USA & their 2 upcoming opponents:
Elo:
USA - 20
Ecuador - 29
Guatemala - 77
FIFA:
Ecuador - 24
USA - 30
Guatemala - 90
-US Soccer hosted a conference call with coach Bob Bradley and defender Oguchi Onyewu this afternoon. Here are three things I highlighted from that call:
1 Jay DeMerit has not yet fully trained yet due an abductor strain he suffered last week with Watford. He is doing light work and they hope he can train later in the week. It is highly unlikely that he will play on Sunday, but they are looking toward next Wednesday for him to get his debut.
2 Pablo Mastroeni was not included on this roster for two reasons, first, he had arthroscopic knee surgery after the Mexico game and is not fully back to full fitness, and second, he is with his family as his wife has just gave birth to a daughter this week! Congrats to the Mastroeni family.
3 24,000 tickets have been sold so far in Tampa, making it already the best attended USA game ever played in that city.
-Here is a podcast of that conference call. I am particularly impressed by the last questioner.
-Bill Ward at the Tampa Tribune previews the USA v Ecua match.
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Did Los Angeles release midfielder Josh Gardner?
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Looks like Dallas's motive for sending Richard Mulrooney to Toronto was to clear a roster spot and salary cap space for a foreign player they have their eye on. We shall see.
-The Dallas Morning News has quotes from FCD coach Steve Morrow on the trade.
-The rumored target for Dallas is Argentine Pablo Ricchetti who played for Valladolid in the early part of this decade, and most recently for Quilmes.
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DJ Walker gets to take in a FC Dallas game right near his own house (he does not live in Dallas) and of course he turns it into his latest Stream Of Consciousness: Saturn Cup. From 3rd Degree.
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The rumor mill says Real Madrid will be back in Salt Lake again this summer.
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Toronto midfielder Carl Robinson, a Welshman, talks to the BBC about the possibility of more British players heading to MLS. Good article.
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Steve Goff at the Washington Post with a feature story on new DCU winger Kasali Yinka Casal. The 19 year old comes to DC from the Fulham academy. He is from North London.
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Still no word on the contract status of Fred2. DC will be training in Mexico at altitude prior to the game v Guadalajara on April 3, and then go straight on to Denver for the season kickoff on April 7.
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Chicago has signed young midfielder Erik Hort who has spent the last two season with Sparta Prague.
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Over in Spain yesterday, Colorado lost 4-3 to Valencia. It was Valencia's second team they played, which is not their reserves, but not their starters either. I guess that is an OK result. But with Zach Thornton in goal, Colorado are doomed.
-Brian Forbes match report for the Denver Post misleads readers into thinking this was Valencia's First 11 on the field. Don't get me wrong, Valencia are a really good team with tons of experienced players, and even playing their backups was a much better preseason game then lining up against the Columbus Crew in Santa Clarita.
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Soccernet previews the New England Revolution for 2007.
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Shalrie Joseph's agent sure is doing a lot of talking this week. We don't usually see much of that in the league. Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America talks to Ron Waxman.
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The Boston Herald gossip column gets in on some Rev's action. Seems Joey Franchino was arrested for expired plates on his car or something really lame. You can be arrested for expired plates? I love the way this trashy article is written. It barely makes sense.
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New England will be in New Orleans on Sunday to take on Olimpia of Honduras (who were just ousted from the Champions Cup by DC United), and then in Baton Rogue next Wednesday to play the New Orleans Shell Shockers of the PDL.
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Andrea Canales writing for Top Drawer Soccer talks to American youngster Robbie Rogers who just left Heerenveen in Holland to sign with Columbus in MLS.
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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America with a good article about the MLS players he calls "The Maestros". There will be 2 new ones coming into the league this season, and 2 big names within the league that are changing teams.
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Drop by the RSLFM to read a Q & A with Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checkett's son, Spencer, who is in the family business.
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The Fresno Bee slobbers all over Freddy Adu. Don't get any on your shirt.
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Thanks to Jackie for sending me this You Tube link to a RSL-Freddy Adu TV spot.
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The First Division's Puerto Rico Islanders host the Puerto Rico USL-MLS Challenge this weekend. Besides the home club, 3 other team will battle it out - Rochester, Los Angeles & Dallas.
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Montreal gets the go ahead to begin building their new home stadium. It will seat around 13,000. And unlike some other new stadiums being built, it will have a GRASS field. From the Toronto Globe & Mail.
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Yanks Abroad says St Pauli's American defender Ian Joy may look to move to MLS this summer.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times writes about Jay DeMerit, Euro 2008 qualifiers and other earthly delights.
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The potential owners of a re-animated San Jose Earthquakes are putting on the Mexico v Ecuador game at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland next Wednesday, and it's already sold out! Over 47,000 tickets. Damn, I wish our boys could sell that many tickets in our own country. The Sacramento Bee says MLS CBW Don Garber will be in attendance (which means he will NOT be in Frisco for USA v Guate.)
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Club America's 1-0 win over Guadalajara last Sunday drew 4.3 million American television viewers, which is even more than last Decembers playoff match between the two. Massive!
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Copa Libertadores - here are the week's matches:
Mar 20
Cerro Porteno 2-1 Cucuta Deportivo
Real Potosi 2-2 Maracaibo
Caracas 0-4 Colo Colo
-Match reports via SI.
Mar 21
Flamengo - Parana
Banfield - America
Necaxa - Sao Paulo
Mar 22
Libertad - El Nacional
Boca Juniors - Toluca
Gimnasia - Santos
Emelec - Nacional
-Greg Lalas of Sports Illustrated raves about the Libertadores!
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English Championship Division 2nd place team Birmingham has acquired forward Andy Cole on loan from Portsmouth for the rest of the season.

I Am Totally Confused By What I Just Said News

As I walked around outside today (listening to the brilliant 70's German rock band Can) I was thinking to myself that if I was the coach of a MLS team I would do everything in my power to keep my General Manager from signing a blighted personality like Blanco to our roster. As a fan of course I love the villains. And I think the league needs em. But if I had to be responsible for one of those kinda guys...... I would probably kill 'em myself before the opponents even got a chance to! Bring him on!


US Soccer prepares for friendly's v Ecuador & Guatemala.
-The team will introduce a new jersey tomorrow. The color Royal Blue is the only thing we know right now.
-Yesterday I said that the USA only had 2 d-mids on the roster - Michael Bradley & Benny Feilhaber, but I forgot about Brian Carroll. This does not add any more experience to the position, but it is more depth.
-It's really too bad that the two Denver daily newspapers don't care about the Colorado Rapids, cuz if they did then maybe one of them could tell us why Pablo Mastroeni was not selected for the USA team. USA coach Bob Bradley has a press conference tomorrow, maybe one of the "journalists" will ask him about Pablo.
-Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald examines the list of players called into the camp.
-The official team blog is back in effect. It's kinda lame actually, but occasionally there is an interesting tidbit.
-Steve Cherundolo talks to the official team website. You can hear it via podcast.
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Toronto makes a very good move - they have acquired Richard Mulrooney from Dallas for a first round draft pick next season and some cold hard cash. I have no idea what this says about Dallas, or Mulrooney (but he is NOT the player he once was), but Toronto can use all the help they can get their hands on.
-And in case I have forgotten to mention this, Toronto also signed midfielder Andy Welsh from Sunderland. As one writer put it (sorry but I forgot who): His name is Welsh, he was born in England, but his passport is from Scotland, he is going to play for a team in Canada, but the league is American. Wow! Talk about yer Anglo-Saxon clusterfuck.
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Looks as though the LA Riot Squad have already selected their 2007 Player Of The Year - and he is one of their own (Thanks to James from the Giant Blog for sending me this): At the LA x Columbus pre-season match, an LA Riot Squader (Twigg) wandered down to the field and took a seat next to the players on the bench. The players had a good laugh and no one said anything until today, when Cobi Jones mentioned it in his retirement announcement. You can see the picture of Twigg on the bench here. This is my kinda jackassery!
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Andrea Canales at LA Soccer News gets the low down from LA Galaxy ownership executive Tim Leiweke on the first time he ever laid eyes on Cobi Jones. (It must have been dreamy.)
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times was at the Cobi retirement press conference. These are his words on the topic of the day.
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Do you think Rafa Marquez was made aware of the momentous occasion.
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A classic picture by Andrea Canales from the Cobi press conference.
-This one is kinda cool in a different way - It's Cobi meeting 16 year old Tristan Bowen who just became the first player signed to the Galaxy's new youth side - Galaxy Rios.
-There are a ton more great pictures and stories where those came from at Sideline View.
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Luis Bueno also of the Sideline View blog has been hearing a lot of rumors about Columbus signing a big name South American midfield playmaker this week. Let's hope it's not Sebastian Rozental pt. 2.
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Bueno talks to former Galaxy great Mauricio Cienfuegos for LA Soccer News.
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OK - Andrea and Luis and Cobi just got enough pimpin' for a month. Let's move on.
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Andrew Hush at Soccer New England talks more with Shalrie Joseph's agent & the teams Mike Burns about the players trade demand. Lot's of quotes.
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I had heard that New England defender Michael Parkhurst had suffered a shoulder injury last week during the teams training in Cancun, but I just found out that the problem is a dislocated shoulder injured while SWIMMING!
-The other dinged up Rev is Pat Noonan, who seems to have been injured in one way or another for just over a full year now. He has gone to Germany to have that special quick healing hernia surgery. The team will need him at full speed quite badly this season if they are to succeed.
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Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet begins their MLS team-by-team season previews with a look at the Los Angeles Galaxy. Including a quip from Eric Wynalda.
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Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer talks to Red Bulls midfielder Seth Stammler about the 07 season. Claudio Reyna quotes too.
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Kristian Dyer of Soccernet has more on the New York Red Bulls financial hubbub story.
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The Houston Dynamo will be honored tomorrow by the Texas state government. Which is pretty cool, I guess. Several players and management types will go to the state capital for some sorta hoopla. Congrats!
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Another episode of Jeff Bradley's First XI from MLSnet already: How's This For Starters?
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No surprise here: "Coming Soon" has now become BobbyBowell.com. Oh yeah oh yeah.
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Square Football with a nice ditty on the incomparable Ray Hudson!
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The latest ACTIM official statistics from the English Premiership are out and American Marcus Hahnemann is the top rated goalkeeper. Fellow American keepers in England Tim Howard & Brad Freidel rank #5 & #7 respectively.
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Someone yesterday requested some info on American and former Columbus Crew winger Brian West. Here is my report:
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - The most important thing I could dig up out about Brian & his team is that the 80's one hit-wonders A-Ha will be playing a concert at the Fredrikstad stadium in Norway on August 17th. It's apparently a really big deal in Norway, which is the bands home country, where I presume they are not one-hit wonders, but rather brilliant mega-hit artists. The team itself is in training after winter break and will start their new season on April 9 v Lillestrom. Late last month Yanks Abroad ran a story on Brian's series of injuries that have kept him sidelined for the past year. He is currently in the USA rehabbing. We at du Nord wish Brian and A-Ha the best of luck.
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The USA U20 team will train together for a week in Dallas starting Thursday. Coach Thomas Rongen has called in striker Gabe Ferrari from Sampdoria for his first stint with the team.
-Yanks Abroad with a full list of all the players called in.
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Mexico is also playing two friendly's during this international break:
Sunday March 25 v Paraguay in Monterrey California
Wednesday March 28 v Ecuador in Oakland
-Does this team play in Mexico anymore? Or do they only play at Azteca for their World Cup qualifiers?
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Copa Libertadores - here are the week's matches:
Mar 20
Cerro Porteno - Cucuta Deportivo
Real Potosi - Maracaibo
Caracas - Colo Colo
Mar 21
Flamengo - Parana
Banfield - America
Necaxa - Sao Paulo
Mar 22
Libertad - El Nacional
Boca Juniors - Toluca
Gimnasia - Santos
Emelec - Nacional
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English FA Cup last night:
Tottenham 1-2 Chelsea - Chelsea goals by Andre Shevchenko & Sean Wright-Phillips. Tottenham goal by Robbie Keane on a PK.
-How about that Shevchenko goal! Wow! He blistered a shot to the back post from about 25 yards out that the Tot keeper had no chance to save.
Manchester United 1-0 Middlesbrough - goal by Cristiano Ronaldo on a PK
-I wonder what Middlesbrough's Yakubu said to Cristiano Ronaldo right before CR took the winning PK. On TV you could see Yakubu walk up behind CR and say something, smile, and then walk away. I can only assume Yakubu said something like this, "Being one of the world's most brilliant penalty kick takers, would you like some advice? Did you see the TWO pk's I missed in the last round of the FA Cup before my teammates bailed me out by making their's. I missed one in regulation and a second after extra time. Don't take em like I did. None the less, I am a brilliant player so I am going to give you a hard time now and then chuckle at my own chicanery. Thank you. Oh, and congratulations on your soon to be win today." By the way, Ronaldo didn't even bat an eye at this crap. He just slammed it home.
-As far as CR's PK goes. He did not take a dive this time. He blew past Jonny Woodgate in the box and then as he felt JW coming in for a tackle CR just let his right leg stretch back so that JW could do nothing but hack him to the ground. Again, CR did not dive, but he sure went into that tackle looking to get fouled and draw the PK. Which I suppose is slightly less pathetic. Calculating player isn't he. I can understand why players on other teams want to viciously foul him. They are totally out of line for doing so, but I can fully understand where they are coming from.
Semifinals:
April 14 - Watford v Manchester United at Villa Park in Birmingham
April 15 - Blackburn Rovers v Chelsea at Old Trafford in Manchester
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Rob Hughes at the International Herald Tribune checks in on Zidane - where is the dude, and what is he doing when not going to Knicks games?
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UEFA.com looks at former German star Bernd Schuster who is coaching Getafe up the ranks of respectability and beyond in Spain.
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And Rikki Kaka's latest diary entry from UEFA.com. He talks about his teams chances in the Champions League, where they next face Bayern Munich. Among other things.
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India has a national soccer team, and they are coached by an Englishman named Bob Houghton. He is interviewed by FIFA.com.
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Phil Ball's weekly La Liga column for Soccernet focuses on the teams in Spain's second division who are looking to join the top flight via relegation for next season.
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Inter's Adriano is out on the town partying again. And this time he is with Brazilian buddy Ronaldo. And this time he got into a fight. And with not just anyone, but a fight with an American who plays basketball for Varese! Special.
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Can someone explain this to me - Why is Watford's nickname the Hornets, when they have a Moose on their logo?
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You wanna see something really funny (in a beautifully subtle way) - Southampton have put up a bronze statue of former great Ted Bates outside their stadium. But there is a problem with the proportions of the great man. It went up last week, and word is already going around that it is coming back down. It is horribly funny! I feel bad for the guy. But I still laughed really hard.

Colorado v Valencia Today Via The Internets

For all you Rapids fans out there, you can see the teams friendly today v Valencia of Spain at 3:25pm central time, right here on the series of tubes.
Very cool.
I doubt we will see very many, if any, Valencia first teamers on the field, but it's still something we don't get every day from MLS.

In other Colorado news - the teams captain Pablo Mastroeni will not be at the match, cuz he is back in the USA with his wife who just gave birth to a baby! Hooray Mrs Pablo! Hooraay Breast Milk! Hooray Simelac!

Light My Cigarette News

New England's star midfielder Shalrie Joseph wants to be paid or traded, and will not be the teams captain this season: "It's an honor and a privilege to be named captain of any team, especially the Revolution, but I wouldn't be able to lead these guys. I have been patient and I have been the good boy they wanted me to be, but I can't wait any more."


US Soccer prepares for friendly's v Ecuador & Guatemala.
-The team has suffered their first 2 player losses as Ricardo Clark & Chris Rolfe are out due to knee injuries. They will be replaced on the team by Brian Mullan & Wade Barrett, both from Houston. By my calculation, this leaves the team without any experienced defensive midfielders. And during coach Bob Bradley's first two games in charge he played 2 d-mids at all times. What is up? I guess youngsters Michael Bradley and Benny Feilhaber will see plenty of the field.
-Jay DeMerit arrived in Florida after sitting out his teams weekend match due to a groin muscle strain. Word has it that he should be ok after a couple days treatment and rest.
-DeMerit does an interview with US Soccer that you can download or listen to via podcast. It's anything I didn't know about Jay, but it's his story, told in his words, and coming from his voice. Great!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Oh my, oh my, oh my. Trouble is brewing in New England. The cheapskate Kraft family is not going to sell their best player Shalrie Joseph for anything less than full value (which is fine), but they are not going to give the in-demand player a pay raise either. And if that's the case then Shalrie wants O.U.T. Now! From Frank Dell'apa at the Boston Globe on Sunday.
-Steve Goff of the Wash Post with more on this, from Shalrie's agent (who would never stir shit up, nooooooooooooo).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two other New Eng Rev's stories from Dell'apa at the Globe. One on the depth of the roster, and the other on defender Michael Parkhurst's injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The story of Ricardo Clark's injury from the Houston Chronicle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis from the Chronicle writes about the latest excellent chapter in the Houston Dynamo book - beating Pachuca. They need to do it again to be a chapter in my book.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff at the Soccer Insider talks about Fred2 and nothing but Fred2. What else is there to talk about in DC anyway? Olsen's beard? Done to death. Bobby Boswell's website and party? See Agent Zero.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Toronto Globe & Mail says TFC has hit that awful period in spring training when it seems like nearly every player has an injury of some sort. Better now than in September I say.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS CBW (Chief Brain Wizard - title stolen from the Common Man) Don Garber was in Miami last week for a Sports Television conference. The Miami Herald got to ask him if the league will ever return to their messed up market.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at Soccernet insists that Cuauhtemoc Blanco will "bring nothing but trouble" to any MLS team that signs him. I cannot completely disagree, but he also will bring skill that no one else in the league has, and we could use a good villain - Pablo Mastroeni, Carlos Ruiz and Dema Kovalenko just aren't getting it done well enough.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Davis then writes an article to counterweight the Ives Galarcep article about the horrible financial status of Red Bull New York. Davis says the rest of the league is doing quite well in the balance sheet. Also from Soccernet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer asked to interview Red Bulls managing director Marc de Grandpre about the teams finances, but was only given this email propaganda message from the teams top man. After that story in the North Jersey Herald about how much money they are losing and how bad corporate sponsorship of the team is going I can see why MdG doesn't want to talk, but he really should. Cuz until he does, all the fans will assume Ives is right.
-And the man who originally blew the $14 million dollar whistle Ives Galarcep, fires back at de Grandpre's remarks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Adam Spangler (a New Yorker) of This American Soccer chimes in with his thoughts on Red Bull, Harrison NJ, money money money, and a MLS team in New York proper.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cobi Jones has announced that at the end of the 2007 season he is hanging it up.
-Andrea Canales with a picture of Cobi and his parents. Very cool.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The town of Santa Clarita California claims that they "invented" the Soccer Mom. Oh please, Democrats did. Hahahahahahaha. The LA Galaxy packed 'em into the stands v Columbus on Sunday in Santa Clarita! From the LA Daily News.
-To make things fair, the game ended 1-1 as a former Galaxy players (Ned Grabavoy) scored for Columbus, and the man he was traded for (Kyle Martino) scored for LA. Touche! The fans chanted Sigi's name too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LA Soccer News has a Q & A with Todd Dunivant, another ex-LA'er, now with the Red Bulls.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Associated Press is reporting that Goldman Sachs is out as an investor in the Real Salt Lake stadium drama. The team says there is a new financial backer, but won't say who it is, "We're not trying to hide anything. We're just working on it." In other words, they don't actually have a new backer, but are desperately trying to secure one. Did RSL owner Dave Checketts have anything locked down when he got into this deal, or has it been "Talk Big, Push Forward As Fast As We Can, And Hope No One Asks Too Many Questions Before We Have A Definite Answer" from day 1?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In actual soccer news from Salt Lake City, something we seem to get little of these days, Dave Checketts took his team out to dinner and told them one thing - make the playoffs. From the Salt Lake Tribune.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Bradley's latest column at MLSnet - First XL: Numbers To Watch
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And Tino Palace's Clean Sheet: Nothing Better. For this weeks edition Tino was paid in Cuban cigars smuggled into the country by UCLA students returning from Spring Break. They got him 5. I guess that was enough.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brian Straus at the US Players Assoc can't believe that MLS has only used the designated player rule twice so far.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here it is folks - everything that is wrong with youth soccer in America today: "The coaches in California make a living by how well they do in state competitions, national competitions, and tournament competitions, so if their best players are continuously recruited away by MLS, their chances of winning reduce, their income reduces. They won't be happy." - Gary Sparks chairman of Coast Soccer League in California. Great article from Soccer America on the youth set up, and how MLS will seek their own version against big odds.
-Andrea Canales of LA Soccer News follows that up with two stories. The first on the Galaxy side of that very story - AND - the second on the new Galaxy youth team's (Galaxy Rios) first signing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Let's check in with our favorite Americans in Europe and see how their weekend matches went:
-DaMarcus Beasley - Manchester City - came on in the 84th minute of a very big 0-2 road win over Middlesbrough. They needed that win badly.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - serving the 2nd of a 3 game suspension.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - went the 90 in central defense of a 0-0 draw at Wigan.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - dressed but did not play in his teams 4-2 home win over Breda.
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - sat out due to red card suspension. His team won 4-0 over Horsens.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - started and went 90 at right back in a 0-0 home draw v Hamburg.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - was injured and did not dress for his teams 3-1 loss at Tottenham.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - watched the 0-0 draw at Wigan from the bench.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - went the distance in goal but lost 1-2 to desperate West Ham.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - started as usual and got yet another clean sheet, but did not win as his team drew 0-0 at home to Portsmouth.
-Kamani Hill - Wolfsburg - played the last minutes of his teams 3-1 win over Bochum.
-Tim Howard - Everton - started in goal as usual and shut out Arsenal 1-0.
-Kasey Keller - Monchengladbach - started in goal as always but lost 1-0 at Leverkusen. The team sits dead last in the Bundesliga, 5 points from safety with 8 games to play.
-Eddie Lewis - Leeds - started at the left midfield spot but was subbed off in the 64th minute of a 1-1 draw with Southend. The team still sits in last place and are 5 points from safety.
-Brian McBride - Fulham - started and went 67 minutes of a 0-0 draw at Wigan.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Newcastle - played the entire match in the center of defense during a 2-0 loss at Charlton.
-Heath Pearce - Nordsjaelland - started and went the distance at right back in a 1-1 draw at Copenhagen.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - he got the start in the defense but was red carded in the 81st minute for a bad tackle in a 2-2 draw with Wolverhampton.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - was on the bench but did not play in his teams controversial 1-2 win at Blackburn.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - still out due to his thigh muscle injury.
-(Please tell me if I should be covering anyone else.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno with his Mexican Primera division Jornada 11 Roundup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores - here are the week's matches:
Mar 20
Cerro Porteno - Cucuta Deportivo
Real Potosi - Maracaibo
Caracas - Colo Colo
Mar 21
Flamengo - Parana
Banfield - America
Necaxa - Sao Paulo
Mar 22
Libertad - El Nacional
Boca Juniors - Toluca
Gimnasia - Santos
Emelec - Nacional
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup - quarterfinals to take place April 5 & 12:
-AZ Alkmaar v Werder Bremen
-Bayer Leverkusen v Osasuna
-Sevilla v Tottenham Hotspur
-Espanyol v Benfica
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Replays of the tied 6th Round English FA Cup matches are today (Monday March 19):
-Manchester United v Middlesbrough
-Tottenham v Chelsea
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The full Q & A with Barca striker Sameul Eto'o by The New York Times' Jack Bell.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I see nothing has changed at Millwall - Carlisle United have filed a complaint saying Millwall fans made monkey chants at American striker Johann Smith. From the Times & Star.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The BBC with an article on the opening of the new Wembley stadium in London. Reader Scott sent us the article, and asked the question, "Why is there a guy in the photo wearing a New York Giants cap?" Hahahahahaa.
-The Guardian sends their team of reporters to report on the new stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I watched only 3 games this weekend, and they were all the big big teams - Barca rolled over Recreativo in Huelva 3-0, Chelsea stomped Sheffield United 4-0, and Manchester United blew away Bolton (who looked like they just don't care at all) 4-1. Cristiano Ronald & Samuel Eto'o were both out of this world.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Did you see Tottenham keeper Paul Robinson score a goal v Watford this past weekend? Unbelievable. He took a free kick from 80 yards down the field, it bounced once in the opposition goal box and went right over the Watford keepers head and into the net! Via You Tube.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This weeks EPL Talk podcast is with former West Ham & Man City great Ian Bishop. He also spent a season in Miami with the Fusion, but then they folded and he was jobless. Not to mention unhappy. He lives in Florida now, my old town Boca Raton, and is friends with a bunch of burnt out old metal dudes who love their football! Excellent interview. This dude really seems like he is into life, and man is he outspoken! He needs to be doing TV commentary.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune tries to figure out at what age do world class football players peak.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ajax smoked PSV 5-1 to close PSV's Eredivisie lead to 5 points with 5 games to play. AZ Alkmaar are 7 points out in 3rd.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Inter won again this weekend leaving their Serie A record sitting at 24 wins, 4 draws and 0 losses on the season. They have 10 games to go. Can they go unbeaten? Their league lead is 12 points over Roma and 27 points over 3rd place Lazio. Seriously.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The top three teams in Spain all won, leaving the table like this - Barca 53, Sevilla 53, Real Madrid 48.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In Germany its Schalke 53 (beat Stuttgart), Werder 50 (beat Mainz), Stuttgart 46 (lost to Schalke), Bayern 44 (lost to Frankfurt).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

America beat Chivas 1-0 in Mexico City on a goal by German Villa. Cruz Azul (20 points) still leads the Clausura with 6 games to go. Chivas are tied with Atlas & Pachuca for 2nd place (18 points). America are next in the table, tied with Tigres for 5th place (17 points).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

With 6 of 19 rounds completed in Argentina the top 5 teams are: San Lorenzo 16, River Plate 15, Boca Juniors 13, and Arsenal de Sarandi & Argentinos Juniors 12.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Former Arsenal and France great Robert Pires finally made his debut for Villareal this weekend. He had been out since last summer with a knee injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ireland will play Bolivia on May 26 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough Mass.

What Else But Shamrock Shake News

I am in serious full-on pre-St Patricks day warm up mode right now, so I have followed little futbol action today, and thus you will get minimal du Nord. Luckily my beard, hair, clothing and beer are now all green and ready for action. Green eggs and ham for everyone. And if you believe that, then you should stop by my place for a UFO siting conversation. We can listen to some of my old Art Bell tapes together.


CONCACAF Champions Cup was the be all and end all last night!
Houston 2-0 Pachuca
-Houston came out like a monster truck in the second half and rolled over the Mexican powerhouse. What a brilliant performance! Wow. I did not see that coming after the first lifeless 45 minutes they played.
-The first goal came from a nice chip into the box which found Brian Ching completely unattended. Ching had planted his feet squarely and then used his head to precisely place the ball into the bottom corner for a relatively easy goal.
-Their second strike was a thing of beauty. Houston used a quick throw in to spring Brad Davis to the end line where he crossed perfectly on the ground for new sub Chris Wondolowski who slotted home with his first touch of the ball. Teamwork at its best.
-Having Eddie Robinson and Brian Ching both in the starting line up was huge for Houston. The local paper reported they would not start, but luckily that was bad info. Their experience helped keep the team together while they struggled.
-And one of the guys I love to pick on the most, Craig Waibel, made two of the best plays of the game. First he provided the perfect flick into Ching for goal one. And then not long after he saved keeper Zach Wells's bacon by clearing a shot off the line. Awesome game for him indeed.
-Houston Chronicle match report by Bernardo Fallas.
-Two problem players for Houston though: defender Kelly Gray's passing is atrocious, and it nearly cost his team dearly on a couple of occasions. Not to mention the fact that he got away with what looked like several bad tackles. Then we have to talk about Alejandro Moreno - he took a dive in the box in the first half of the kind that makes my blood boil. What a lazy lame cheapass thing to do. Get up and play man!
DC 1-1 Guadalajara
-DC was so damn lucky not to have been blown out. But their resilience showed through when it counted the most. And then they storm back with that goal at the very end and salvaged the game. Of course after the game ended it appeared as though the entire Chivas team tried to kill Ben Olsen. You gotta love that guy!
-Chivas goal was a work of art with Sergio Santana storming down the left wing and whipping in a huge cross for Omar Bravo to smash toward goal with his head, only to see it deflect off defender Namoff and into the goal. I think Perkins may have saved it otherwise. But hey, the play was gorgeous.
-DC got their goal after Olsen was involved in a wrestling match on the end line and won a free kick. Christian Gomez served up a perfect ball which, who else, Luciano Emilio headed home for the draw. Amazing finish.
-Washington Post match report by Steven Goff.
-United could be in big trouble this year if they have to rely on the form that Facundo Erpen, Brian Namoff and Clyde Simms showed in defending the past 3 games. Those three must have turned the ball over in bad positions 20 times between them last night. Let's hope they shape it up, cuz the team appears to have no depth to help them out. And the other DC subs don't look too hot either, but thats another topic. On the other hand, it's preseason.

Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet reviews both matches, and does a nice job of telling all the non-believers just how serious the players take this tournament.

The away legs will be very hard for both MLS team to get success from. Even though Houston has a great lead, they will have to go to the high elevation of Pachuca [thanks to el guero for the correction] , while DC has to travel to Chivas where they rarely lose to anyone. I will not count our teams out, but I will not place money on them to advance either. Of course I will be loudly cheering for them both. As should you.

The US Players Assoc has a Q & A with Houston backup keeper (and so far CCC hero) Zach Wells.

And that's it for today.

Bubble Headed News

CONCACAF Champions Cup Semifinal round first leg matches - both today:
Houston v Pachuca - live at 5pm central time on Fox Soccer Channel - delayed from yesterday due to a power outage at the stadium.
DC v Guadalajara - live at 7pm central time on Fox Soccer Channel
-Return leg matches will be April 3 in Guadalajara & April 5 in Pachuca.
-Steven Goff at the Washington Post with his DCU match preview.
-John Haydon at the Wash Times with his preview.
-With an extra day before the Houston-Pachuca game it gave Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle the chance to write another preview of the Dynamo-Pachuca game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer announced their team roster for next weeks 2 international matches. (see schedule in the right hand column) They also have a nice front page photo mosaic (I think the most interesting part is the ghost of Claudio Reyna looking over Clint Dempsey's shoulder).
-Bob Bradley talks about his roster, via podcast from the official USA site.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno talks to Chivas USA defender Jonathan Bornstein about his injured knee and missing this next set of USA games. From LA Soccer News.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Check out the latest installment of Buzz Carrick's always fantastic coverage of FC Dallas practice sessions. Filled with quotes, observations, and insider goodies. A must read for any Dallas fan, and a good read for the rest of us.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Dallas Morning News looks at FCD's injury riddled back line.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fred2 is in the house! He will be in attendance for tonight's Screaming Eagles v Goatboys battle royale.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have alluded to a certain new website that is Coming Soon. Well it seems that Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog has blown the lid off this non-secret. Excellent stupid stuff. I mean it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales of LA Soccer News with a 3 part series on the LA Galaxy goalkeeper scene. First up we have the keeper coach - Tim Hanley. Next comes the back up - Steve Cronin. And last we have the starter - Joe Cannon. (It seems very weird to type Joe Cannon next to LA starting keeper.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Toronto FC has announced that they are SOLD OUT of season ticket packages. This is astonishing news! They had decided to cap season tickets sales at 14,000 for their 20,000 seat stadium, and they achieved their goal. They have also sold of out their sky boxes. There has been no word on when single game tickets will go on sale, but 2 different multigame packages will be available soon. There is a good chance that they could sell out every game before a single ball has been kicked in anger.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America talks to the 3 Americans playing at Fulham in England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Crystal Palace USA - the American arm of the London club - have officially chosen Anapolis Maryland has the home of their new club and academy. The main team will play in the USL Second Division this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fox Soccer Channel has announced their USL First Division broadcast schedule for 2007. My Minnesota Thunder will be shown the first two weeks of the season on the road, but sadly they will not be on the schedule again. This link is from Blue Sky Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luckily the world did not come to an end yesterday when Jack Warner was re-elected CONCACAF president for a 5th term! He ran unopposed. Yeah! Long live corporate crooks!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DaMarcus Beasley did not even dress for his teams 0-1 loss to Chelsea last night. This team is in dire trouble. (See more about Man City team turmoil below.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores - here are the week's matches:
Mar 13
Alianza Lima 1-3 Audax Italiano
Cucuta Deportivo 1-1 Cerro Porteno
Maracaibo 1-1 Real Potosi
Mar 14
Parana 0-1 Flamengo
Toluca 2-0 Boca Juniors
Velez Sarsfield 3-0 Internacional
Santos 3-0 Gimnasia
-Match reports via Sports Illustrated.
Mar 15
Deportivo Pasto - Defensor Sporting
LDU Quito - River Plate
Deportes Tolima - Gremio
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup - Round of 16 second leg matches (with first leg scores included) yesterday & today:
Wednesday scores-
Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 Lens - Leverkusen win it 4-2 on aggregate.
Werder Bremen 2-0 Celta de Vigo - Bremen win it 3-0 on aggregate.
Osasuna 1-0 Rangers - Osusuna win it 2-1 on aggregate.
Tottenham 3-2 Braga - Tottenham win it 6-4 on aggregate.
Thursday matches-
AZ Alkmaar v Newcastle (2-4)
Espanyol v Maccabi Haifa (0-0)
Shakhtar Donetsk v Sevilla (2-2)
Benfica v Paris St Germain (1-2)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Smyth at the Guardian joins the list of us crowing about the talents of Tottenham striker Dimitar Berbatov. This guy is amazing!
-Someone calling themselves Enter The Pitbull has created a DB video highlight clip at You Tube.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with Australian coach Graham Arnold. Like USA main man Bob Bradley, Arnold is an interim hoping to make the job his permanently while big name coaches are rumored to be swirling all around him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bayern Munich's interim coach Ottmar Hitzfeld has agreed to a one year contract to stay with the team through next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Derek Rae's most recent column for Soccernet says Barca should ditch the 3 man back, and Germans should make more films. Agreed
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have gotten a kick out of Manchester City captain Richard Dunne's pointing the finger for his teams failure this season at the "foreign" players. What an imbecile. Whatever acrimony was in that dressing room before has just been amplified by 1000. And Danny Mills stepped up and backed him. Great captain ya got there. Reminds me of the bonehead moves Roy Keane pulled in his later days at Ireland and Man United. This shit is private. In my opinion, as the captain you lead by example and handle the words inhouse. And blaming foreigner's surely smacks of racism, does it not?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And for those of you who now want to tear me a new one after dissing your hero, here's a very good article on Roy Keane as the manager of Sunderland. From the Guardian. This author says Keane reminds him of a young Jose Mourinho. In a good way. I really hope he is massively successful.

USA Roster For Next Weeks Guatemala & Ecuador Matches

Here is the official Team USA roster for the matches next week:

G:
Brad Guzan
Tim Howard
Kasey Keller
D:
Carlos Bocanegra
Steve Cherundolo
Jimmy Conrad
Jay Demerit
Oguchi Onyewu
Heath Pearce
Frank Simek
Jonathan Spector
M:
DaMarcus Beasley
Michael Bradley
Brian Carroll
Ricardo Clark
Clint Dempsey
Benny Feilhaber
Justin Mapp
F:
Brian Ching
Kenny Cooper
Landon Donovan
Eddie Johnson
Chris Rolfe
Taylor Twellman


Leave a comment if you think they missed someone, and tell us why.
(all other comments will be deleted)

I Know That You Are Really Special News

CONCACAF Champions Cup Semifinal round first leg matches (return leg matches will be April 3-5):
Wednesday
-Houston v Pachuca - live at 7:30pm central time on Fox Soccer Channel
Thursday
-DC v Guadalajara - live at 7pm central time on Fox Soccer Channel
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas at the Houston Chronicle previews tonight's CCC match for the Dynamo.
-Houston defender Eddie Robinson will not start the match. Add that decision to the injuries that are keeping Dwayne DeRosario and Brian Ching out of the first 11, and you have a much less skilled team on the field. Interesting choices by coach Dom Kinnear. All 3 will be on the bench and ready to go if needed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ian Plenderleith of the US Players Assoc previews DC's match tomorrow, and makes a mention of Houston's match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Joel Aceves at LA Soccer News checks in with Guadalajara Chivas to see what they know about their next opponent DC United - Aaaaah, that would be nothing! There is some of that great Mexican boasting though about how they have to show MLS that Mexico is better. Where have we heard that a dozen fruitless times before?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This just in: "The Los Angeles Galaxy and Cobi Jones will hold a press conference to make a major announcement on Monday, March 19 at 10:30 a.m. at The Home Depot Center. Fans are welcome to attend. Parking will be available in Lot 10; please enter through the Southwest Entrance of the stadium." My guess is that Cobi is going to announce that he is retiring at the end of this season, and he will now start his victory lap.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Episode 57 of the great EPL Talk podcast is now on line for your downloading & listening pleasure. It's a really good episode too. "[H]ear interviews with Setanta Sports, GolTV and Fox Soccer Channel. Find out the latest news about how many 2007/2008 Premiership matches will be shown on Setanta Broadband. Discover what changes are in store for GolTV, and learn more about FoxSoccer.com from the man who's responsible for making it a success."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLSnet didn't bother to tell anyone but they posted an exclusive video interview with Jimmy Conrad of Kansas City & Pablo Mastroeni of Colordao. It's not a very exciting interview, but the idea of the interview on the league site is exciting.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff tries to clear up some of the confusion on the contract situation of DCU new signing Fred2. From the Soccer Insider.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goff writing for the Washington Post says DCU keeper Troy Perkins hopes to be healthy enough to play v Chivas on Thursday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DCU has signed this kid Kiki Willis to a developmental contract. Here is an article from last summer telling us what he was up to at the time. Its not the rosiest of pictures.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Metrofanatic with another story on the forward dearth at NYRB. The article eventually focuses on our guy Ansu Toure.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Toronto Globe & Mail talks to TFC midfielder Carl Robinson about his new team and new life.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno at LA Soccer News talks to Chivas USA defender Orlando Perez about his goals and dreams for 07.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New England smoked Mexican 2nd Division team Inter Playa del Carmen 7-0 in the Yucatan yesterday. Taylor Twellman got his legs warmed up for the MLS season by bagging 4! They were even down to 9 men late in the game and still rolled. IPDC finished with 10 men.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave continues to keep his finger on the pulse of the Chicago-Blanco negotiations. He says things are still moving forward.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Japan Times with an article about the potential of Japanese players making the move to MLS. Thanks to Ben for sending this to us. It's really good. (And see a related story below about a Japanese player signing with a USL First Division side - namely my Minnesota Thunder.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Wells (the brilliantly funny fucker known as Swells) at the Guardian tells the story of communists and anarchists riding the soccer wave in America!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He's back (he's actually been back for 9 days but no one told me, so I had to find it on my own): Dan Loney Says It All
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A very interesting looking film will be shown during the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. The documentary titled, The Power of The Game, looks at soccer around the world and its social implications. A fuller description is available at the Tribeca Film Fest site. The other interesting note about this film is the director - Michael Apted. He has done all kinds of film projects, starting in British TV, and doing the documentary series 7 Up, 14 Up, 21 Up etc. He has also directed feature films like Coal Miner's Daughter, Gorky Park, Gorillas in the Mist, Nell, The World Is Not Enough & a ton more. He also did the official FIFA World Cup 2006 film, and is directing Goal 3 at this moment. Dave Brett Wasser at Historic Soccer Videotapes sent us this gem.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I missed this one from the Sunday Times of London - feature story on American defender Jay DeMerit at Watford. (the story is a little obsolete now that Watford have beaten Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup, but I still thought it was relevant.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA midfielder DaMarcus Beasley & his team are in Premiership action today. They take on Chelsea at home.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Don't know if you heard this initial story, but a couple months back former San Jose midfielder Ramiro Corrales was given the heave-ho by the immigration department in Norway where he had been playing the past several seasons. The story goes that his team Ham-Kam never filed his work permit renewal papers, and after he left them for another team, Brann, no one picked up the ball. So his permit expired and the government got serious. Hence he was officially deported. The good news is that the problem was fixed this week and after several months of red tape he can return to his club and play again. Hooray Akevitt. From Yanks Abroad.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Domo Arigato Mr. Ota. The Minnesota Thunder signed 6'4" Japanese striker Keisuke Ota. He played last season for Thespa Kusatsu of the J-League second division. Thunder GM Djorn Buchholz told Blue Sky Soccer that they team expects Ota to arrive April 4 or 5.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores - here are the week's matches:
Mar 13
Alianza Lima 1-3 Audax Italiano
Cucuta Deportivo 1-1 Cerro Porteno
Maracaibo 1-1 Real Potosi
-Match reports via Sports Illustrated.
Mar 14
Parana - Flamengo
Toluca - Boca Juniors
Velez Sarsfield - Internacional
Santos - Gimnasia
Mar 15
Deportivo Pasto - Defensor Sporting
LDU Quito - River Plate
Deportes Tolima - Gremio
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Jack Bell at the New York Times took in the Barca-Real Madrid match last Saturday and gives us some notes from his trip, including quotes from Barca striker Samuel Eto'o.
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Chelsea left back Wayne Bridge could miss most of the rest of the EPL season after having knee surgery for damaged cartilage.
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UEFA has given Valencia's David Navarro a 7 month ban for punching Inter's Nicolas Burdisso after their Champions League match last week. I am not sure how this all works, but I would guess its 7 months no matter which competition Valencia play in. My only question then becomes, do the months of June, July & August count toward the ban seeing as the club is offseason during those months?
-Other players from both teams were also given shorter and more specific suspensions. The following bans are from UEFA club competitions: Burdisso - Inter - 6 games, Maicon - Inter - 6 games, Carlos Marchena - Valencia - 4 games, Ivan Cordoba - Inter - 3 games, and Julio Cruz - Inter 2 games.
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Gregory Sica of Sports Illustrated talks to du Nord fave & Sevilla's awesome Brazilian right back/wingback/central midfielder/striker Daviel Alves!

Questioning The Timing Of The MLS Season

A MLS question was posed to me by Dave Brett Wasser of Historic Soccer Videotapes. I thought it was a good question for the readership at large. There are many issues to consider here.

I'm one of the many people who thinks that MLS would be a lot smarter to shift their season so that it starts 4-6 weeks earlier, and ends 4-6 weeks earlier.

Just look at the sports calendar in America. October is the busiest month of the year! There is pro and college football, and the baseball playoffs. How can MLS compete with that? MLS suffers because people lose interest in soccer in October.

On the other hand, March is perhaps the least busy month on the sports calendar. There is basketball and hockey, but that's it. People don't really pay much attention to pre-season baseball, so that isn't much competition.

MLS should have started their season last week with games in each of the warm-weather cities. MLS Cup could then be in the last week of September at the latest.

I want to know what you all think about this idea.