Is There A Supervisor That I Can Talk To Regarding This News?

-The Washington Post has really good coverage of last nights Chelsea 2-1 win over DC United. The first half was great fun to watch, much like the Chicago v Milan match the night before. Awesome to see the MLS teams playing so well against the best.
United took a storming lead on a corner kick that was powered home off the head of Bobby Boswell. Of course this just woke Chelsea up, and if I may say, pissed them off. Eventually Damien Duff smashed home a fantastic goal from the left side on a cross that he never even let hit the ground. He is one hell of a player. Later in the match Arjen Robben & Hernan Crespo (both subs!!!!) hooked up after a terrible DC defensive giveaway and it was quickly 2-1 for Crespo & Chelsea. Game over. There is a good match report (written in that casual style I like so much) from the Chelsea website.
-On the day they faced Chelsea, DC United actually had a bigger announcement to make: AEG has sold the team to current team president Kevin Payne and an investor group. They say the price paid was the highest ever for an MLS team.
-Something that I have been meaning to mention for a while and keep forgetting about: Two weeks ago MLS commish Don "I'm A Clash Fan" Garber was in Columbus for an All-Star Game press conference. During his speech he mentioned something that few people have really picked up on. He said that MSL has officially given the teams the go ahead to create their own youth academies, and full reserve systems. This goes way beyond the idea of an expanded roster so that guys can get on the pitch in Reserve League games. We are talking kids and education and stuff like that. One line that was very interesting to me was when he said something to the effect of "....and we want teams who bring players up through their own system to be able to retain those players...." Which really explodes the whole idea of a "draft" and crap like that. I love this stuff. Keep it coming.
-Real Salt Lake have made two new defensive signings. Both are international players who are waiting on work visas. They are Guatamalen Gustavo Cabrera from CSD Comunicaciones and Robert Scarlett from Jamaica and Harbour View FC. Both guys have been playing regularly for their respective national teams.
-This morning in Switzerland they held the drawing for the Champions League Third Qualifying Round. The first-leg matches will be played on Aug 9 or 10, with second-leg matches on Aug 23 or 24.
Here is the draw (looks to me like Everton got the bad end of the stick):
Basel v Werder Bremen
Artmedia/Celtic v Partizan/Sheriff
Shakhtar Donetsk v Inter
Shelbourne/Steaua Bucuresti v Rosenborg
Man United v Debreceni/Hajduk Split
Malmo/Maccabi Haifa v Dynamo Kyiv/Thun
Everton v Villarreal
Kaunas/Liverpool v Tirana/CSKA Sofia
Sporting Portugal v Udinese
Valerenga/Haka v Brugge
Dudelange/Rapid Wien v Rabotnicki/Lokomotiv Moskva
Anderlecht/Neftchi v Slavia Praha
Anorthosis Famagusta/Trabzonspor v Rangers
Dinamo Tbilisi/Brondby v Ajax
Real Betis v Monaco
Wisla Krakow v Panathinaikos
The 16 winners from this round will join the 16 automatic qualifying teams in the group stage, which starts in September.
-The USA U18 team will take part again in the annual Milk Cup in Northern Ireland August 1st-5th. Check out the schedule and team roster.
-Sports Illustrated writer Jonah Freedman slams MLS for the shit job they did of promoting the three matches the leagues teams just played against some of the worlds finest teams. I could not agree with him more. Sure all us retards knew about it, cuz we have no other life. But if MLS really wants to grow they are going to have to spend money to promote the game as well as spend money on better players (you can't have one with out the other - you need them in tandem).
-If yer in the Twin Cities, then join me and other like minded souls at the Nomad in Minneapolis to watch the MLS All-Stars take on Fulham - Sat at 230pm!
-The Clean Sheet: He Don't Know Much
-Is the Dallas centerback Clarence Goodson for real? Could he become a USAer? Someone please let me know.
-An oddly interesting story about MLS potential in Philadelphia from an obscure paper called Phillyburbs.
-The Press Enterprise newspaper from the Inland Empire area of LA has a story on the LA Riot Squad.

All I Got Today Is The News, So Don't Expect Anything More From Me

-Chicago did not deserve to lose to AC Milan last night. The final was 3-1 to Milan, but the Firemen took it to them from start to finish. I was very excited watching the match. At least two shots went off posts, and Andy Herron had 2 one-on-ones with the keeper (the second one he got off two shots) but could only shoot straight at the keeper every time. Damn damn damn. It sure was fun to watch. (Did I say that already?) The second and third Milan goals came late on counter attacks. In some ways it was classic Milan, get an early goal, sit back, absorb and counter. I don't care what you read in wire reports (one headline read: "Milan Hammer Fire"), this game was a great one to watch, and Chicago gave Milan everything they could handle.
-Jimmy Conrad strikes again: What's My Name?
-Young American Frank Simek has signed a deal with Sheffield Wednesday after being released by Arsenal.
-Steve Goff of the Washington Post says the new ownership of DC United will be announced today!! Its a great time to be an MLS fan.
-So Pat Noonan is definitely out of the All-Star game, and Tyrone Marshall of LA was named as his replacement, but in last nights New England v LA match, Marshall got hurt. Will he be replaced too?
-Last nights Champions League Second Qualifying Round first leg scores (including Celtic getting destroyed by Slovak champs Artmedia in Gordon Strachan's debut):
Dudelange 1-6 Rapid
Partizan 1-0 Sheriff
Shelbourne 0-0 Steaua
Malmö 3-2 M. Haifa
Artmedia 5-0 Celtic
Rabotnicki 1-1 Lokomotiv Moskva
Tirana 0-2 CSKA Sofia
Debrecen 3-0 Hajduk
All 2nd leg matches take place August 2 and 3.
-Rob Hughes from the International Herald Tribune tries to figure out if big European clubs are getting ready for the new season by coming to America & Asia for matches, or are they just filling their pockets while burning out their players. Clubs drain stars but fill coffers
-Fat Tony (Meola) got his 90th career win last night in MLS. His new team, Metrostars, beat FC Dallas 3-2 (Mets goals by Ante Razov, Mike Magee and Sergio Galvan Rey, Dallas goals both by center back Clarence Goodson of all people), while New England & LA were drawing each other 1-1 (LA got another goal from new hero Hercules Gomez, and Shalrie Joseph scored on a PK for NE). For some MLS players its now time for a weekend off as the All-Star team plays Fulham on Saturday, then next Wednesday its US Open Cup action for all the teams (except Salt Lake who got ousted by my Thunder in the last round!)!

Excuse Me, News Coming Through

-Justice is served as Jeff Cunningham, the leading scorer in MLS, was added to the All-Star Team to replace the injured Eddie Johnson.
-Looks like Pat Noonan probably will not play in the All-Star game either. Expect a replacement to be named today or tomorrow. My guess is that they will add Jaime Moreno.
-Two other replacements have already been named for other injured stars: Eddie Pope & Amado Guevara are both out, and have been replaced by Ivan Guererro of Chicago, and Brad Davis of San Jose.
-MLSnet has a note that says Greg Vanney will be the All-Stars captain. Gee, I know I'm inspired now, aren't you?!?!?! It should also strike some intense fear in the Fulham players.
-Colorado also signed Isreali midfielder Dedi Ben-Davan from Maccabi Tel Aviv. He will not be available until the International Transfer window opens on Aug 15.
-Yesterday I mentioned that Scotland was ready to kick off the 05-06 season this Saturday, well it turns out that so is France. Many more Euro leagues follow suit over the next 2 to 3 weeks.
-I keep seeing stories about Michael Essien being sold by Lyon to Chelsea for tons and tons of money. But if he goes to Chelsea where does he play? He is a great holding, destroying, and ball-winning midfielder. So who does he supplant in the lineup? Frank Lampard or Claude Makelele? Are you kidding me? What is the point of this purchase? Maybe it's just so no one else can have him. That sounds like Mourhino and Abramowicz to me.
-Claudio Reyna has said he is ready to play for the USA in the upcoming qualifiers v Trinidad & Tobago on August 17.
-You wanna know what that giant zipper head Troy Dayak is up to since he retired, well today there is an article in the....... Naaaaaaaaaaah, forget it, he's a putz.
-Another classic MLS zipper head is Joey Franchino of New England. He got only a two game suspension for the double fisted punch to the back of the head he layed on Hector Cuadros of Chivas USA last Friday night. Cuadros ended up unconscious, and went to the hospital with a concussion. Brilliant job Joey, yer a genius.
-KC defender Nick Garcia also got a two game suspension for his nasty elbow shot he gave Knox Cameron of Columbus.
-Tottenham have a big message on their website welcoming new signing Edgar Davids from Inter. I love it. There is a hitch though, he hasn't agreed to a contract, and hasn't taken a physical yet. We shall see.
-Michael Ballack was named German Player Of The Year. Which is great, cuz he's great, but why is this done in July right before a new season starts?
-The Beas returns to PSV
-Ives has stories on the injuries of Amado Guevara and Youri Djorkaeff.
-Last nights Champions League Second Qualifying Round-first leg scores:
Dinamo Tbilisi 0-2 Brondby
Dynamo Kyiv 2-2 Thun
Anorthosis 3-1 Trabzonspor
Anderlecht 5-0 Neftchi
Valerenga 1-0 Haka
Kaunas 1-3 Liverpool
8 more games will be played tonite.
-The draw for the Third Qualifying Round of the Champions League takes place on Friday. Those matches will be played August 9 or 10, & 23 or 24. 18 new teams will enter the tournament in this round.
-Two MLS matches on the hook this evening:
Metrostars v FC Dallas
New England v Los Angeles
-Plus don't forget about Chicago v AC Milan, live from Soldier Field at 8pm central on GolTV.
-I guess my little tirade about Inter bringing a soft team to England was heard loud and clear. Last night Adriano, Esteban Cambiasso, Obafemi Martins and Javier Zanetti all flew to England to join in the dance v Crystal Palace tonight.

What Is That Smell? My God, I Think It's Coming From The News!

-It looks as though Mexican keeper Oswaldo Sanchez is about to become the second player from MFL to sign with a foreign team this week. He is going to go play in Brazil for Santos. This is a rarity in Mexican soccer, but it looks like the floodgates are opening.
-Inter beat Leicester last night 2-0 in their first game in England, but the following Inter players did not even make the trip: Adriano, Andy van der Meyde, Esteban Cambiasso, Francesco Coco, Ivan Cordoba, Julio Cruz, Alvaro Recoba, Francesco Toldo, Juan Sebastian Veron, Kily Gonzales, Obafemi Martins, and the two Zanettis, Javier and Christian. So who the hell went? Marco Materazzi, the new boys, and the reserves? What a joke. The guys who stayed home and some others from the Inter Primavera and Juniores Berretti squads will scrimmage this week during training with Italian teams Cagliari, Bolzano, & Treviso.
-DC United have released English midfielder Steve Guppy. Guppy started the season pretty well, but got injured and has never really returned to action.
-Because of the massive violence that happened before the last Kenyan home World Cup Qualifier (one dead - many injured), FIFA have ordered Kenya to play their next home qualifier in an empty stadium. The game will be Sept 2 v Tunisia. Don't you think Kenya is getting off a little light for this mess. Shouldn't these teams get some serious punishment so that people take it seriously next time. Who knows.
-Ridge Mahoney in USA Today on Ronaldo: Persistent pressure just a part of being Ronaldo
-As I watched the USA v Panama match on Sunday, I kept asking "why are they not using Pat Noonan for some more offense?" Turns out he had a bad ankle and did not dress for the match. Neither did Steve Ralston who had a concussion. After the match Coach Arena said that Noonan, Ralston, Pablo Mastroeni, Steve Cherundolo, Conor Casey & Eddie Pope (not to forget the loss of Eddie Johnson) were all probably out for the August 17th qualifier v Trinidad & Tobago. Not good to hear.
-Mark Chung was named MLS Player Of The Week.
-Sunday is the last day to acquire players for teams Champions League rosters in the qualifying stages.
-PSV will take on Monchengladbach in Eindhoven in a friendly this Friday. It will be interesting to find out if Beasley or Keller see any action.
-The Scottish league kicks off Saturday.
-My Minnesota Thunder had what might be their worst week in 15 years as a team. They played 3 games and lost them all! Here is this weeks USL First & Second Division wrap ups

Simon Kuper Is Back To Football

Kuper has spent most of the summer blabbing about tennis and bicycling. It's now kinda back to football for my favorite sports writer with an article over the past weekend
When sports people don’t like sport

You Have Two Choices: Pick Your Nose, Or Read The News

-The Gold Cup final was way too close yesterday with USA beating Panama on PKs after the match finished 0-0. I must say though, that Panama sure has gotten good. They are no '98 Reggae Boyz (Hooray Beer), but they do have some flair and skill. The biggest thing I noticed about the match was the 2 hour pre-game show that Univision put on. Yes that's right, 2 hours! Take that ESPN. Suck on that Fox Soccer Channel! I know very little Spanish, but the thing was good looking (beyond all the hoochies wearing those skin tight jump suits!). Interviews with Keller, Donovan, Asst Coach Curt Onalfo, & Amada Guevara, all done in Spanish. That's not to mention the live, on the field interviews with Keller and Donovan within moments of the final pk.
Gold Cup All-Tournament Team:
G: Jaime Penedo - Panama
D: Oguchi Onyewu - USA
D: Felipe Baloy - Panama
D: Jorge Samuel Caballeros - Honduras
M: DaMarcus Beasley - USA
M: Landon Donovan - USA
M: Jairo Patino - Colombia
M: Luis Ernest Perez - Mexico
F: Luis Tejada - Panama
F: Tressor Moreno - Colombia
F: Wilmer Velasquez - Honduras
with Honorable Mentions to:
G: Kasey Keller - USA
D: Tyrone Marshall -Jamaica
D: Michael Umana - Costa Rica
M: Philip Eveans - South Africa
M: John O’Brien - USA
F: Jorge Dely Valdes - Panama
F: Jafet Soto - Costa Rica
If you go to the Gold Cup section of the US Soccer website, they have a nice video of the end of the Panama match shot from Bruce Arena's vantage point in the sky box where he watched the match (cuz he was suspended), some on the field antics post game, and of course shirtless men in the locker room post game. Very fun to watch.
-The 3 best teams in MLS all lost this weekend. And they lost to the 3 worst teams in MLS. So what should have been a weekend to widen the gap at the top, turned into a weekend to bring the whole thing closer together into one big glop. Colorado killed Chicago 4-1 with two goals from Alain Nkong and the 10th of the year for Jeff Cunningham (who sure as shit better be on that MLS All-Star team replacing the still injured Eddie Johnson). Interim Coach Robert Warczyka is now 2 wins and 1 draw in his first 3 matches. And Chivas has won 2 of the last 3. Not to mention Salt Lake putting 3 on Dallas in the first 30 minutes! What is going on? Here are those scores:
Chivas 1-0 NE
LA 0-1 DC
Columbus 2-0 KC
Colorado 4-1 Chicago
RSL 3-0 FCD
SJ 2-1 Metro
So now the full table looks like this (* indicates teams who would miss the playoffs if they started today):
36 Chicago
35 New England
34 FC Dallas
34 San Jose
29 DC United
29 Kansas City
28 Los Angeles
25 Metrostars*
21 Columbus*
21 Colorado
16 Real Salt Lake*
12 Chivas USA*
-The USA's only consistently dominating player at the recent U20 World Championship was Benny Feilhaber from UCLA. Over the weekend he signed a deal to play for HSV Hamburg in the Bundesliga. Fantastic for him!
-Now the word is that Guus Hiddink is going to coach both PSV and Australia. If I were PSV I would be pissed off. But maybe this is the only way they could pretend to keep him. They should fire his ass.
-The speech Big Sam gave about my fave Mexican Jared Borgetti to the Bolton faithful:
"We are just waiting for the all clear on the medical. I am glad to say everything else is in place and by the time we get back home everything should be sorted out. The fee has been agreed with his Club and personal terms are all sorted."
-FC Dallas insiders are saying that Eddie Johnson will be out until October. In case you didn't know, he has a stress fracture in his foot (which foot, I don't know).
-14 Second Qualifying Round (first leg) matches in the UEFA Champions League take place this Tues & Wed. Dynamo Kyiv, Liverpool & Celtic all have games. My personal dark horse, Sheriff are in Belgrade to take on Partizan. Here are all the matchups.
-Chelsea beat Milan 1-0 in Boston. Arjen Robben scored the goal. Milan plays Chicago at Soldier Field on Wednesday, and Chelsea play DC United at Fed Ex Field on Thurs. The DC v Chelsea match will be live on ESPN2 at 7pm central. Wednesdays Chicago v Milan match is live on GolTV at 8pm central.
-Manc City are in the process of signing Aston Villa striker Darius Vassell.
-Inter have flown to England to take on Leicester, Norwich, Crystal Palace & Portsmouth in preseason matches. Late last week Inter tried to pull out of these matches due to "security concerns", but were persuaded to go ahead with the matches.
-Balitmore Sun has a feature on Santino Quaranta: Quaranta is making healthy gains

I Have Been Looking At So Many Pictures Today That My Eyes Are Blurry With News

-Honduras played a damn decent game last night against the good old USA, but not decent enough. The constant USA pounding paid off late and the victory tasted sweet (at least from where I was sitting). Attack Attack Attack. Thats what both teams did most of the night, but for some reason late in the match Honduras sat back to absorb the pressure. It didn't work. It hardly ever works against a superior opponent. I was watching with a housefull of people, one of them kept yelling something about "...if we can't beat Honduras...." I have never been able to figure out that attitude. For the most part, the Central American countries are damn good. Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador and now Panama all play at a good and sometimes great standard. Honduras is no exception. Final score USA 2-1 Honduras. USA goals by John O'Brien (Den Haag) in the 86th minute, and Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege) in the 90th. Hondu goal by Ivan Guerrero (Chicago Fire) in the 30th.
-Panama won the other Gold Cup semifinal in a shocker over Colombia 3-2.
-Gold Cup Final is USA v Panama on Sunday July 24 at 2pm central, live on Univision from the Meadowlands Giants Stadium in East Rutherford New Jersey.
-MLS Points Per Game Rankings:
(Since many MLS teams have played a differing amount of matches so far, it seems only fair to line the teams up by how many points they take per game on average. Cuz Chicago has played 20 games, and New England only 17, its not very equal to just settle it by total points.)
2.06 New England
2.00 FC Dallas
1.80 Chicago
1.63 San Jose
1.56 Los Angeles
1.53 Kansas City
1.44 DC United
1.39 Metrostars
1.00 Columbus
0.95 Colorado
0.72 Real Salt Lake
0.47 Chivas USA
-Eddie Johnsons new contract with FC Dallas was finally officially announced today. He is the second highest paid player in the league, behind Landy Cakes.
-A potentially great looking game on ESPN2 Saturday with Los Angeles hosting DC United. Live at 3pm central time. Later on that night its Real Salt Lake v FC Dallas on FSC at 830pm central time.

Hi There, I Just Wanted To Say That I Always See You All Over Campus But I Never Knew Your News

-Word from Madrid is that on August 23 a MLS All-Star team will be playing Real at the Bernabeu. Wow. Kinda cool. They might get their asses whipped, but it could be fun though.
-Tonight its the Gold Cup Semifinals from the New Jersey Meadowlands: USA v Honduras at the ungodly hour of 5pm central time. Who watches football at 5pm? Following that match its Colombia v Panama in the other semi. Ben Olsen is out for the USA because of the stupid red card he took against Jamaica. Conor Casey & Steve Cherundolo are both out with their injuries. Eddie Pope is back to practice after his latest boo-boo. Tony Sanneh is said to have some sort of tweak, but is practicing, so who knows.
-If you jump over to the US Soccer site there is page full of video clips, including scenes from yesterdays team practice, and a compilation of goals the USA has scored against Honduras over the last 4 years (including some vintage Clint Mathis bombs).
-Two Sundays back there was a match between Mexico & Jamaica. It was shown in the US on Univision and it got the highest ratings of any sporting event for Hispanic males ever! More than the Super Bowl. Imagine the ratings if USA & Mexico had met in the Gold Cup final like they were supposed to.
-US Open Cup update: With Richmonds ridiculous 8-4 win over Ocean City last night, we have all the pairings set for the 4th Round of the Cup. All games will be played Aug 3 or 4.
Chivas USA v Los Angeles
Portland v San Jose
Columbus v FC Dallas
Richmond v DC United
Kansas City v Des Moines
Minnesota v Colorado
Rochester v Metrostars
Chicago v New England
-Wed night MLS match scores:
Columbus 1-0 Metrostars
Kansas City 1-1 DC United
Colorado 1-2 San Jose
-USA Today continues it run of USMNT player features. Today we get Chris Armas.
-FIFA is reporting that the last USA World Cup Qualifying match is going to be held in Boston on Oct 21 v Panama.
-Yesterday I wrote way too much about the stupid Tim Trophy in Italy. Mainly cuz I love Inter and they were challenging for the trophy. Anyhow, I did not know that Juventus were also fighting Inter and Milan for the award. Well, let's get to the point here - Inter won! Yeah! And here are the scores:
AC Milan 2-1 Juventus
Inter 1-0 Juventus
Inter 0-0 AC Milan (Inter wins 5-4 on pks)
-You can see a trailer of the new Real Madrid movie (it's not a documentary, but it's not fiction either): Real, the movie
-More on the kidnapping of the Cruz Azul coach from the New York Times
-John O'Brien feature in the New York Times too
-Lots more Champions League first round qualifying scores. Winners include my favorite new team - Sheriff! From Moldova.
-I realize that I have never mentioned The Clean Sheet by Tino Palace via the MLS website. It's a regular column that I used to HATE. But I have really gotten into it over the past 12 months. And Tino is a really good guy who always replys to my emails. Check it out now.
-The Mexican Futbol Federation is going to punish new Chivas USA signing Juan Pablo Garcia by holding his official transfer papers until the Aug 15 International Transfer date (instead of letting him play now). The punishment is for not signing with another team in Mexico and instead chosing to play in MLS. Nice federation you got there boys.
-ADDITION: Looks like Robinho has his deal to go play for Real Madrid all sewn up. Santos must have gotten their money.

A Little Excitement. What?!?!?! It's News Dammit!

-The biggest news in these parts is the rumor of Jared Borgetti signing a deal with Bolton in England. BUT THE DEAL IS NOT DONE. Has a Mexican ever played in England? The fans at Bolton would love him. He is one hell of a player. I really wish MLS would fork out some pesos for him. But Europe surely seems his destiny for now. Big Sam at Bolton says a deal is far from done however, so don't hold yer breath just yet. In the article Alardyce says: "We have found with the South American regime that it is very difficult to strike a deal." Hey dumbass, maybe that's because they are not in South America! Try whipping out the old atlas and searching NORTH AMERICA, it might make deals a little easier for ya.
-Three MLS matches happening tonite:
Columbus v Metrostars
Kansas City v DC United
Colorado v San Jose
-MLS Single Table as of today:
36 Chicago
35 New England
34 FC Dallas
28 San Jose
28 Kansas City
28 Los Angeles
25 Metrostars
25 DC United
18 Colorado
15 Columbus
13 Real Salt Lake
09 Chivas USA
-Reminder: Chelsea v DC United Thur July 28 & AC Milan v Chicago Wed July 27.
-Ailton has left Schalke for Besitkas.
-Five freaks with guns kidnapped Cruz Azul's coach yesterday. What the f%#$?
-Ridge Mahoney (for years I have wondered what kind of name Ridge is anyway. A family name perhaps?) has a story on everyone's favorite MLS court jester Jimmy Conrad in USA Today: Conrad works way into position to help USA
-How is the USA possibly ranked #6 in the new FIFA standings? 1. Brazil, 2. Argentina, 3. Netherlands, 4. Czech Republic, 5. Mexico, 6. USA, 7. France, 8. England, 9. Spain, 10. Portugal. OK. Whatever!?!
-Scores from the second leg of first qualifying round matches in the UEFA Champions League. Liverpool moves on. Several games on the schedule for today as well. Kaunas (Lithuania - get Liverpool in 2nd qualifying round) & Dinamo Tblisi (Georgia - play Brondby next) have also gone through to the next round.
-In other Liverpool news, they signed the big geek Peter Crouch from Southampton
-Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe interviews DMB: Beasley is a big-time performer
-Andy Cole signed with Man City
-Tonite in Italy its Milan v Inter for the Tim Trophy. "Huh?" you ask. Its the annual game between the winner of the Italian Cup and something else that I can't remember right now. Its like the Community Shield match in England. Its a friendly, but tonite, also a derby. Expect fights. Milan lines up this team - G: Eleftheropoulos (how about that name); D: Cafu, Stam, Nesta, Kaladze; M: Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf, Rui Costa, Serginho; F: Vieri. The line up for Inter shows that they do not take this match seriously at all. They have split their squad in half, and will play another preseason exhibition in another city at the same time as this match. Here is their team - G: Julio Cesar, Carini; D: Ze Maria , Arrieta, Cordoba, Materazzi, Giani; M: Wome, Stankovic, Karagounis, Pizarro, C.Zanetti, Solari; F: Cruz, Momente, Martins, Belaid. Regulars Adriano, Recoba, and Van Der Mayde were not named to either squad (resting I guess).
-Kevin Hartman Q & A at Soccer 365.
-Chivas de Guadalajara announced on their official web site that striker Francisco Palencia is now finally headed to Chivas USA. He was supposed to sign with Chivas USA last spring, but it didn't happen. There was a time when I thoroughly enjoyed watching Palencia play, but I think he is getting a little long in the tooth. I have no idea if he will help. I did just see a new picture of him, and he was wearing a lot of rings and bracelets.
-The LA Times has a big feature story on Thiago Martins.
-Another LA Times story has columnist Mike Penner showing how far behind America is when it comes to soccer broadcasting. No real soccer fan in this country will disagree that we have some weak-ass coverage on TV.

I Want My Friends To Read The News

-And just like that, AC Milan fills a hole at forward with a very promising player as they acquired Italian Alberto Gilardino from Parma. Gilardino scored 23 goals last season and the season before. He is the real thing. Like Coke.
-In today's New York Times, Jack Bell says that Guus Hiddink has been made coach of Australia. That is news to me. I had heard that they would like him to be their coach. But he is still firmly in charge of PSV today. The PSV website makes no mention of any of this stuff.
-Real Madrid totally dominated LA last night. Big surprise there (ha ha). Final score was 2-0. It was fun to watch though, & interesting seeing how one of OUR squads matches up in the real world. LA even had their moments. I can't wait to see more of this in the future. My pal Joe in West Hollywood sent along this comments on the match:
no, i didn't go. nick mann didn't return my call. heh.
i was actually on the edge of my seat expecting the galaxy to net one.
but real's just too cool. mad skills - every pass perfect and always well timed - i think with the starting group only one ball was lost out of bounds. they, indeed, play the beautiful game. zidane is the shit. he was great in wc 1998... oh, and they don't really foul - which is a hallmark of those terrible south american squads and most mls too. though salgado? and gravesen seemed to be the thugs for madrid.
but the galaxy were scrappy and tried their best. however, they tried to get too cute at times. Herculez's quick shot from outside the box that just went wide was more what they needed. jovan's shot was good, but too low, that needs to be faster or in the upper corner. la needed more first touch shots, less 'let's watch me dribble around real' - but then, well, real's defense dropped back nicely every time, and they were always ready to counter.
i am very sore at arena that landy cakes wasn't there. even for 30 min. isn't copa oro considered a bunk tournament anyway? honduras?
also, hartman complained just a touch about the adidas ball. said it reacted different from a nike or puma ball. then again, with knuckle balls with no movement off of roberto carlos' feet, i think he could stop the spin on any ball he wanted...
-From MLSnet: 5 keepers starting in MLS right now are from UCLA. Brad Friedel was from UCLA too. That is very impressive.
-Minnesota Thunder got bulldozed by a mean, tough, talented Rochester squad. The 3-1 score did not tell the complete story. Rochester put tons of pressure on the ball no matter where it was on the field, & it looks like they are really rounding into a good form. Sadly our team is not. They are maddeningly inconsistent and appear to lack any real leadership on the field. Someone is going to have to step up for the Thunder and take charge out there. On a good note: Tighe Dumbrowski has come in on loan from San Jose and it looks like he has a great touch. I hope he adds some more spark.
-MLS leading Goal Scorers:
9 - Jeff Cunningham COL, & Taylor Twellman NE
8 - Christian Gomez DC, Jaime Moreno DC, & Pat Noonan NE
7 - Nate Jaqua CHI, & Carlos Ruiz DAL
-Rob Hughes, International Herald Tribune: Summer of sales and regrets
-A translated story from yesterdays edition of El Pais about Real Madrids two stops in the USA: Real marvels at US welcome
-Inter keeper Francesco Toldo cut all his hair off. I didn't recognize him. He looks like a POW with a big grin.
-In thinking more about this whole Sean Wright Phillips signing with Chelsea, I guess the one guy who should be looking over his shoulder is Damien Duff.
-Did you see where Sunderland got punched right in the nose (hard, 3-0) by Vancouver of the USL First Division on Sunday night in a friendly as part of Sunderlands preseason. Sunderland is going to have a very very long year in the Premiership if this is garbage they have to offer.
-A Galaxy fan got his ass kicked by a hoard of Chivas USA punk ass bitches following last Saturday nights derby. Welcome to futbol dude.