Asian & African World Cup Qualifiers Today

Asia World Cup Qualifiers:
Bahrain 0-1 Japan
Iran 1-0 North Korea
Uzbekistan 1-1 South Korea
Saudi Arabia 3-0 Kuwait
African World Cup Qualifiers:
Libya 0-0 Ivory Coast

Grant Wahl - Kasey In The Net

Keller talks about his return to international play
by Grant Wahl
for Sports Illustrated's Inside Soccer

Rankings & Reasonings for Friday June 3

01 TIE New England & FC Dallas - I cannot replace NE at the top cuz they did not lose, but they are only treading water right now while FCD are clawing up and up. I really hope they can both keep this up for a while and then meet for a real thrasher of a match soon.
03 Los Angeles - They seem like the deepest team in the league right now. Their reserve squad is 4-0 too. But they could really use an official top notch goal scorer.
04 Chicago - They must be dong it with magic. I still never see much out of them, but the points are piling up. And they get the Goats at home this weekend.
05 San Jose - Like Chicago they are a bit of a mystery. The tools are there, and I have said before how much I like the younger guys in the back line. Believe me when I say that Onstad will be their achilles.
06 Kansas City - I think they are gonna sit back and wait for late in the year to make their run. The players and coaches know how to get it done. They should be taking time to play more of their youngs guys now while they can get away with it. But thats not really Gansler-ball now is it.
07 Metrostars - With Bob Bradley as the coach I am really hoping that this is their year. I love all the young guys, then add Guevara and Youri to the fun.
08 DC United - Could madness strike this team at some point and it all blows up. Like Bowyer and Dyer in the middle of a match. What a weird team. I still laugh when I think about the reporters hounding Nowak for the name of the Argentine defender he wants to sign, and he snaps back: "Diego Maradona!"
09 Real Salt Lake - Blah blah blah blah Ellinger, blah Mathis, blah blah Kries, blah blah blah Countess blah, Field Turf blah blah.
10 Colorado - See Salt Lake review but change names to Clavijo, Mastroeni, Cunningham, Cannon, and Altitude.
11 Columbus - Suck
12 Chivas USA - New coach makes no difference. I read somewhere this week that Cuadros was a decent young player..... Are you kidding me? He's terrible. And that old bum they put in goal is terrible too.


This Weekends Matches:
Chicago v Chivas USA
New England v Kansas City
Real Salt Lake v FC Dallas
Los Angeles v Metrostars
San Jose v DC United
Which leaves Colorado & Columbus with the weekend off to cry it out of their systems, then get up and fight next week.

My Back Muscles Are Kinda Tight, So Maybe This News Will Loosen Them Up A Bit

-Not quite sure how I missed this one last week, but Man U have released Roy Carroll from the club, meaning they will get no compensation from the club who signs him.
-CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers on Saturday June 4 & Wednesday June 8. All 6 teams are in action, and here's the schedule:
Sat Jun 4
USA v Costa Rica
Guatemala v Mexico
Trinidad & Tobago v Panama
Wed Jun 8
Panama v USA
Costa Rica v Guatemala
Mexico v Trinidad & Tobago
-Carlos Ruiz will not be available for Guatemala on Saturday due to suspension. But that may not matter as he is suffering from an undetermined foot injury. If he is healthy he could play for FC Dallas on Saturday night in Salt Lake City.
-Patrick Kluivert is going back to Spain, this time to play for Valencia after one fairly unproductive year with Newcastle.
-The last 2 Qualifying matches for this years US Open Cup are set for next Wednesday. See the full tournament brackets at the Open Cup site. My team, Minnesota Thunder will enter in the 2nd round.
-Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the Chelsea-Ashley Cole mess. Lawyers Smell Blood As Star Is Punished
-Feyenoord striker Salomon Kalou has been named Most Talented Player of the Year in the Eredivisie.
-Really good interview with Steve Cherundolo by Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Zeigler is another one of those unsung soccer heroes of the American daily newspaper grinder. For Mt. Carmel High grad Steve Cherundolo, Germany is home sweet home
-Copa Libertadores first leg quarterfinals
Guadalajara Chivas 4-0 Boca Juniors
Banfield 1-1 River Plate
-J Hutcherson from the Soccer Daily found this little nugget about a new USA & MLS TV rights deal with ESPN. There are no real details given though. ESPN IN US SOCCER DEAL
-Oh, and while yer at it, get your next home mortgage from Tony Meola (and Alex Zontinca's wife)!
LATE ADDITION:
More news on Carlos Ruiz - He was just named MLS Player Of The Month for May! Way to go lil fishy.

Get Off Your Ass And Read!

I strongly urge you to read what my fellow no-nothing big-mouths have to say regarding the gorgeously beautiful game! They, like me, have no idea what they are really writing about. But I think we come off quite well adjusted. Please pleasure yourself to our words.

...off the post!

We Call it SOCCER

FOOTBALLS ARE ROUND!

Ramblings of a Soccer Junky

Now go lay down and take a well deserved nap.

I Just Ate Sesame Chicken, Now Here's Some News

-From USA Today: "John O'Brien is most likely not going to be part of the game because he's been away too long. And after bowling last night, that would be expecting too much of the young man" said Arena.
-I guess the coach was the difference for Chivas - new coach, tie game. And Old Ramon even scored. He makes Preki, Agoos & Pope look young and spry. Hey look, they have 5 points now! New England and Dallas are only 16 ahead of them.
-If you go to the USA Soccer page you can watch a video clip from yesterdays practice. The team played Real Salt Lake and won 4-0. The coolest part was seeing Run DMB out there at full speed!
-Last nights Copa Libertadores first leg quarterfinal results:
Atletico Paranaense 3-2 Santos
Sao Paulo 4-0 Tigres
Second leg matches are on June 15
-LA of the Galaxy will be without a lot of players this weekend. Should be a good test of Sampsons coaching skillz. Donovan & Cobi with USA, Michael Umana with Costa Rica, Pando Ramirez with Guatemala, Tyrone Marshall, with Jamaica, and then Chris Albright has a knee injury, Joseph Ngwenya had hernia surgery, & Alan Gordon has a hip injury. OUCH! That is what we call dipping deep in to the well.

MLS Week 10

STANDINGS
21 New England
21 FC Dallas
19 Los Angeles
16 Chicago
15 Kansas City
15 MetroStars
13 San Jose
11 DC United
11 Real Salt Lake
10 Columbus
08 Colorado
04 Chivas USA

SCORING
7 Carlos Ruiz - Dallas
6 Taylor Twellman - New England
5 Clint Dempsey - New England
5 Landon Donovan - Los Angeles
5 Amado Guevara - Metrostars

A Couple More Excellent Reads For Today

FC Dallas Lays Out Plans For Talent Pipeline
Steve Davis
Dallas Morning News
Dallas finally starts its own youth program. But instead of starting small they are diving in full bore.

United's Unpolished Diamond
Steven Goff
Washington Post
There is quality lurking deep down the DC United bench. Nana Kuffor came to United last summer straight from rural Ghana. They say his talent potential is scary.

Rob Hughes

from the International Herald Tribune
A Weary Ronaldo Will Be Back

Great News and Terrible News

-The Good and The Bad line up for El Pescadito. Carlos Ruiz was named MLS Player Of The Week, and had an insane bicycle kick goal on Saturday. But he also got a cast put on his foot. He will have an MRI done today. He will not play this weekend for Dallas, and could miss the next Guatemalan World Cup Qualifier next Wednesday. No word on how he got hurt. 3rd Degree is the best place for all the details, cuz they care.
-Eliseo Quintanilla was released by DC United per his request.
-Rafael van der Vaart signed with Hamburg. He had been with Ajax.
-With the match tied 1-1 in second half added time, Amado Guevara curled a gorgeous shot into the far corner of the goal to give Metro their first home win of the year by beating Chicago. Coach Bob Bradley was pretty damn excited on the sidelines, something you rarely if ever see from him. The look on Chicago keeper Zack Thornton's face was remarkable too. He stood there for quite a while with sweat streaming down his face, head cocked off to one side, looking simply stunned.