Feliz Dia da las Madres News

Video Highlights of the first Toronto goal, win, red card, flesh bite, and seat cushion tossing contest! Glorious all! And, another view of the first goal - from a handheld in the cheap seats.

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Clint Mathis of New York described his team's performance on Sunday v Colorado to Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer like this: "It was almost like we were brain dead out there." Well, Clint oughta know what that looks like. He has pulled a quite a few of those days in the past couple years.


MLS weekend scores:
Toronto 3-1 Chicago - Tor goals by Danny Dichio, Kevin Goldthwaite & Maurice Edu. Chic goal by Chris Rolfe.
Match report by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Match report by Larry Millson of the Globe & Mail.
Columbus 1-1 Chivas USA - 'lumbus goal by Ned Grabavoy. Chiv goal by Ante Razov (#101 for him).
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Kansas City 1-2 Dallas - KC goal by Michael Harrington. Dal goals by Kenny Cooper & Juan Carlos Toja.
Match report from myself and Paul Demko for Top Drawer Soccer.
Match report by Bob Luder of Kansas City Star.
Match report from the Dallas Morning News.
Los Angeles 2-3 New England - LA goals by Kyle Martino & Tyrone Marshall (both set up by Landon Donovan). NE goals by Taylor Twellman (2) & Adam Cristman.
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match report by Phil Collin of the Daily Breeze.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match Report by Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News.
New York 0-1 Colorado - goal by Niko Hernandez.
Match report by Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald.
Match report by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Match report by Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
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With no surprise at all that Taylor Twellman has been named MLS Player of the Week.
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The goals and win in Toronto brought with it a shower of round white seat cushion that had been given away to all in attendance. As soon as the game started you could see them flying on to the field like frisbee's. But once Danny Dichio scored the teams first ever goal, it was like a rain storm of the things. It happened again after the next two goals! TSN Canada with the story.
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More reaction to the Tor v Chic game and all the antics:
-Match report from MLSnet.
-Slam Sports article on Ronnie O'Brien's debut for TFC.
-Despite the win, Metro Canada says there are still questions about the teams strike corp.
-Post-game analysis from the CBC.
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Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle says the Dynamo's two Canadians are looking forward to their first game in TO on Wednesday night.
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Are You Loyal? has a great Q & A with former RSL general manager Steve Pastorino! (thanks to Luke for sending me this)
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I got an email from Adam Spangler of This American Soccer this morning. He was at the New York v Colorado game yesterday and said it was the "worst pro game of any kind I have ever been to". Oof. Here is his story of the game and peripherals.
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Sky Sports is reporting that Los Angeles has signed white haired Portuguese defender Abel Xavier who recently left Middlesbrough. He is a bit of a nut job as well.
-The word from LA Soccer News is that this is a done deal, but he will not be available to them until June 15.
-A poster calling himself Just Slim on Big Soccer says he is a close friend of Xavier and writes about the defender in depth.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times says the Xavier deal will happen in mid June, and also, that LA is trying to make a deal with Dallas to re-attain Carlos Ruiz!
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Steven Goff on his Soccer Insider blog says DC United is planning to put together a Marco Etcheverry tribute match.
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Check out this awesome picture of Ante Razov in action, taken by Andy Mead!
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Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch takes a look at the Crew's new Argentine Guillermo Barros Schelotto, whose arrival has not caused a fan eruption in Ohio's capital city.
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And Shawn Mitchell at the Col Disp with a story on Latino fans in Columbus.
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NYRB midfielder Claudio Reyna missed Sunday's game due to a groin muscle strain.
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LA Soccer News has a Q & A with Reyna.
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Kristian Dyer of Soccernet gives a thumb sideways to Juan Pablo Angel's MLS debut.
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Amado Guevara's MLS run is officially over now as he has been loaned out to his former club Montagua in his native Honduras.
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James Edwards at the Deseret Morning News talks to RSL new head man Jason Kreis after his first two games in charge. He is still alive, at least.
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Steve Davis with his weekend MLS match roundup from Soccernet.
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Soccernet's MLS Power Rankings.
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The US Players Assoc does a Q & A with ESPN announcer Rob Stone.
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I came across this very cool map of the USA & Canada with all the MLS & USL First Division teams marked off! Its pretty cool.
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Former Dallas coach Colin Clarke says he wants a chance to replace Lawrie Sanchez as coach of Northern Ireland.
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Here is some of the best/worst funniest/saddest gossip in weeks - George Best's son Calum wants to play in MLS. He has been busy getting in shape by partying with Lindsey Lohan. Excellent. Here is how I would greet him: "So, you are who's son? Oh him. Ok. Step right up ma'boy. You seem to have the pedigree we desire, so here's the big big cash. This is not a hard job, just knock it around a bit. Us Americans can't tell the good from the bad anyway. By the way, we love you already."
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USL First Division scores from the weekend:
Portland 2-2 Seattle
Puerto Rico 1-1 Montreal
Charleston 2-0 Miami
Atlanta 1-2 Carolina
California 1-3 Rochester
Seattle 1-3 Vancouver
Portland 2-0 Rochester

USL First Division standings:
11 Vancouver
8 Atlanta
8 Montreal
8 Rochester
7 Portland
6 Puerto Rico
6 Carolina
5 Charleston
5 Seattle
3 Miami
2 Minnesota
1 California
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Let's check in with our favorite Americans in Europe and see how their weekend matches went:
-DaMarcus Beasley - Manchester City - started in his last game at Man City and went 81 minutes before being subbed out of a 2-1 loss at Tottenham.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - went the distance of a home loss to Hansa Rostock 1-2.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - started and went 90 minutes but lost 3-1 at Middlesbrough on the last day of the season.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - came on as a 60th minute sub, but lost 4-0 (4-1 on aggregate) in the Eredivisie Champions League spot playoffs.
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - started and played the whole match beating Horsens 1-4.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the full 90 in a loss at Arminia Bielefeld 3-1.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - started and played 78 minutes of a 1-0 win over Orebro.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - again left out of the team, as they drew 1-1 at home to Newcastle in their final Premiership game for the near future. DeMerit has been given the last month off to rest his tired bones.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - got his first ever EPL start, and went the distance too, but the team lost 3-1 at Middlesbrough.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - started as always, but gave up a 1 goal lead three different times, eventually settling for a 3-3 draw at home to Reading.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - got the start in goal, but went out injured in the 21st minute. The team drew 3-3 at Blackburn. The news got worse though when it was found out that he had broken 3 bones in his hand, suffered when he collided with a Blackburn player on the play leading to the first goal surrendered.
-Kamani Hill - Wolfsburg - came on as a 76th minute sub of a 2-2 draw at Alemannia Aachen.
-Tim Howard - Everton - started as usual and went 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw at Chelsea. The teams 6th place finish earns them a spot in next seasons UEFA Cup.
-Kasey Keller - Monchengladbach - was released from the club in midweek. No further plans announced yet.
-Brian McBride - Fulham - started and went 90 minutes but lost 3-1 at Middlesbrough on the last day of the season.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Newcastle - came on as a 59th minutes sub in his last performance for the team, a 1-1 draw at Watford.
-Heath Pearce - Nordsjaelland - started and played the whole game as his team beat Vejle 3-0.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on as a 28th minute sub for an injured teammate, as his squad hung on for the relegation saving win at Old Trafford. Who would have figured that! West Ham won 6 of their last 8 matches to stay up.
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - came on as a sub in the 90th minute of a 1-2 home loss to Stabaek.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - did not dress due to injury as his team lost 1-2 to Hansa Rostock.
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Yanks Abroad talks to USA & Watford defender Jay DeMerit who did not play the last few weeks for his team, since they were officially relegated, but he is healthy and looking forward to next season.
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The USA U20 team will play Argentina on Wednesday night in Rochester. Head coach Thomas Rongen previews the match via US Soccer podcast. Download or listen.
-Here is an official update on the match.
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Mexican Playoffs - The next round match-ups last night & tonight:
-first leg
UANL 1-3 Guadalajara
UAG 0-1 Cruz Azul
Atlas 3-3 America
Santos 1-1 Pachuca
-second leg
Guadalajara 3-2 UANL - Guada advance 6-3 on aggregate.
Cruz Azul 1-0 UAG - Cruz adv 2-0 on agg.
America 4-1 Atlas - America adv 7-4 on agg.
Pachuca 1-1 Santos - series tied 2-2 after full time. Pachuca advance on this awful tie breaker - There were the higher seeded team! Oh, now that is lame! See, MLS isn't the only league with daft rules!
-Semifinal match ups (dates tbd):
Pachuca v Cruz Azul
Guadalajara v America
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Mike Woitalla at Soccer America with the story on Americans headed south to play in the Mexican league. I heard Glenn Davis on his radio show recently ask Houston coach Dom Kinnear, who played at Necaxa, why American's didn't go play there anymore. I guess they weren't paying attention to these names.
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It looks like Canada are going to settle on current U20 coach Dale Mitchell as their new leader of the senior team. U17 coach Stephen Hart is expected to continue running the team through the Gold Cup, and until Mitchell completes his task with the U20 World Championship this summer.
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Copa Libertadores - Quarterfinals (first leg):
Tue May 15
Cucuta Deportivo v Nacional
Wed May 16
Defensor Sporting v Gremio
America v Santos
Thur May 17
Boca Juniors v Libertad
-Second leg matches:
Tue May 22
Nacional v Cucucat Deportivo
Wed May 23
Gremio v Defensor Sporting
Santos v America
Thur May 24
Libertad v Boca Juniors
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The leaders in both Spain and Germany choked this weekend. New leaders in both races!
-Two of the big Euro league races are still really tight, while a third features an epic relegation battle. Here are the weekend's matches and standings:
-La Liga-
(4 left to play in Spain)
Scores:
Barcelona 1-1 Real Betis
Real Madrid 4-3 Espanyol
Sevilla 2-1 Recreativo Huelva
Valenica 2-0 Zaragoza
Standings:
66 Real Madrid
66 Barcelona
64 Sevilla
62 Valencia
55 Zaragoza
-Bundesliga-
(1 left to play in Germany)
Scores:
Borussia Dortmund 2-0 Schalke
Bochum 2-3 Stuttgart
Werder Bremen 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt
Standings:
67 Stuttgart - last game v Energie Cottbus
65 Schalke - last game v Arminia Bielefeld
-Serie A-
(2 left to play in Italy)
-8 teams fighting over 1 relegation spot
39 Livorno -15 gd, 1-0 Sampdoria, at Torino, v Atalanta
39 Torino -17 gd, 0-1 at Roma, v Livorno, at Inter
38 Parma -17 gd, 4-1 Messina, at Lazio, v Empoli
38 Catania -23 gd, 1-1 Milan, at Sampdoria, v Chievo
37 Siena -10 gd, 2-0 Empoli, at Palermo, v Lazio
37 Cagliari -11 goal differential, 1-0 at Fiorentina, v Roma, at Ascoli
36 Reginna 0 gd, 1-1 Chievo, at Empoli, v Milan
36 Chievo -9 gd, 1-1 at Reggina, v Ascoli, at Catania
-Already relegated: Messina & Ascoli
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French Cup final:
Sochaux 2-2 Marseille - after extra time, Sochaux wins 5-4 on PK's.
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Relegated in England? One team in this batch was going down, and with Man U clearly not that team. Who were the ultimate losers?
-Man U 0-1 West Ham
-Sheff U 1-2 Wigan
-This leaves Sheffield United as the odd team out, and only by the slightest of margins too. The one goal loss was all that separated the two teams in the tie breaker. Wigan had -22 goal difference, Sheff U had -23. Wow. Just a few weeks ago SU looked safe, but lost several down the stretch run. They will return to the Championship Division from where they came from just 12 months ago. Charlton & Watford had already been demoted.
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Even though Wigan won the war of attrition and kept their Premiership spot for next season, coach Paul Jewell has stepped down.
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Manchester City gave coach Stuart Pearce the boot as well. At least he can now concentrate on the England youth teams.
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Also in England, the Championship Division promotion playoffs are all set. One of these 4 will get promoted:
Sat May 12
Southampton 1-2 Derby
Sun May 13
Wolverhampton 2-3 West Bromich Albion
Tue May 15
Derby v Southampton
Wed May 16
West Bromich Albion v Wolverhampton
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The Times of London has a Q & A with Man U legend Eric Cantona.
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The Observer has a transcript of a discussion between Portsmouth keeper David James and reporter Paul Wilson, looking back on the just finished English Premiership season.
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Popular Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli has signed a 4 year contract extension.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Tottenham manager Martin Jol.
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Fenerbahce won the Turkish league championship.
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Anderlecht have won the Belgian league title.
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Many Americans favorite whipping boy Giuseppe Rossi has scored 9 goals in 17 games since coming to Parma on loan in January. He is still the property of Man U.
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Reports from Brazil say Rikki Kaka will not be part of their team for the Copa America in July.
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Al Ahli have won their 32nd Egypt league title. Too bad they can't find some better teams to compete against, that league must get boring with the same team winning that much.
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The UEFA Cup final is this Wednesday in Glasgow.
Sevilla v Espanyol
-See it live at 1:30pm central on Fox Soccer Channel.
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Mortiz Volz of Fulham hands out his Premiership end of season awards in his column for the Times of London.
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Lastly, a former Juventus executive has stepped forward with new allegations of the team peddling influence over referees going all the way back to 1984. Many will say that this is not surprising. But sure is sad to hear. From Channel 4's Football Italia.

Whacky Blooper News

MLS weekend schedule & scores (all times central):
-Thurs May 10
Colorado 1-1 Salt Lake - both tally's were own goals!
Match report by Pat Rooney of the Rocky Montain News.
Match report by John Meyer of the Denver Post.
Match report by James Edwards of the Deseret Morning News.
Match report by Brian Forbes for the Salt Lake Tribune.
Post-game analysis by George Tanner of RMN's FC Rocky. He talks about the blown offside call that denied Colorado a goal! George and I then disagree on yet another offside call that denied a second Colorado goal. George says it was offside this time, but my freeze frame on the DVR shows that it was not offside and should have been a legit goal! So, as far as I'm concerned, Herculez was robbed of two, just like DDR didn't deserve two last weekend.
-Sat May 12
Toronto v Chicago - 2:30 on FSC
Columbus v Chivas USA - 6:30 Direct Kick
Kansas City v Dallas - 7:00 Direct Kick
Los Angeles v New England - 9:30 Direct Kick & HDNet
-Sun May 13
New York v Colorado - 2:00 Telefutura
-DC & Houston do not have games.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet previews this weekends MLS games.
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Alecko Eskandarian suffered a calf injury and will not play for Toronto this weekend. But it looks as though Ronnie O'Brien may be ready for his club debut. Will he start?
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The Columbus Crew will play a friendly v Aston Villa on July 28 at Crew Stadium. Villa are owned by Clevelander Randy Lerner.
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There is a rumor that Amado Guevara may not be done in MLS after all, even though his stint at Chivas USA is over. Dallas are showing interest.
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Jonah Freedman at Sports Illustrated talks to the 3 Americans who helped keep Fulham afloat in the EPL: Carlos Bocanegra, Clint Dempsey & Brian McBride.
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Sadly, Paul Kennedy at Soccer America has an obituary for the recently deceased Gino Pariani, who played for the USA 1950 World Cup squad. You know, the legendary team! RIP Gino. My best wishes to his family.
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Word on the street is that GolTV has secured the rights to broadcast the Copa America in English in the USA. Watch for an announcement soon.
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My Minnesota Thunder are off this weekend, but here are the other USL First Division games on tap:
-Fri May 11
Portland v Seattle - live on FSC at 10pm.
Puerto Rico v Montreal
-Sat May 12
Charleston v Miami
Atlanta v Carolina
California v Rochester
Seattle v Vancouver
-Sun May 13
Portland v Rochester
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Jesse Erdmann at Blue Sky Soccer has the new USL First Division Power Rankings.

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In a couple of friendly's for USL 1st-D teams this week, Carolina beat Chivas USA 2-0, and Portland beat Necaxa of Mexico 1-0!
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Copa Libertadores - Round of 16 second leg matches:
-Tue May 8
Colo Colo 2-1 America - America wins 4-2 on aggregate.
Toluca 2-0 Cucuta Deportivo - Cucuta wins 5-3 on aggregate.
-Wed May 9
Velez Sarsfield 3-1 Boca Juniors - Boca advance 4-3 on aggregate.
Flamengo 2-0 Defensor Sporting - Defensor adv 3-2 on agg.
Gremio 2-0 Sao Paulo - Gremio adv 2-1 on agg.
-Thu May 10
Santos 3-2 Caracas - Santos advance 5-4 on agg.
Libertad 1-1 Parana - Libertad advance 3-2 on agg.
Necaxa 0-1 Nacional - National advance 4-2 on agg.
-Who advanced to the next round: America, Cucuta, Boca Juniors, Defensor Sporting, Gremio, Santos, Libertad & National.
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Two of the big Euro league races are still really tight, while a third features an epic relegation battle. Here are the weekend's matches and standings:
-La Liga-
Matches:
Barcelona v Real Betis
Real Madrid v Espanyol
Sevilla v Recreativo Huelva
Valenica v Zaragoza
Standings:
65 Barcelona
63 Real Madrid
61 Sevilla
59 Valencia
55 Zaragoza
(5 left to play in Spain)
-Bundesliga-
Matches:
Schalke
Stuttgart
Werder Bremen
Standings:
65 Schalke at Borussia Dortmund
64 Stuttgart at Bochum
63 Werder Bremen v Eintracht Frankfurt
(2 left to play in Germany)
-Serie A-
(3 left to play in Italy - 8 teams fighting over 1 relegation spot)
37 Cagliari -10 goal differential, at Fiorentina, v Roma, at Ascoli
37 Catania -23 gd, v Milan, at Sampdoria, v Chievo
36 Livorno -16 gd, v Sampdoria, at Torino, v Atalanta
36 Torino -18 gd, at Roma, v Livorno, at Inter
35 Reginna 0 gd, v Chievo, at Empoli, v Milan
35 Chievo -9 gd, at Reggina, v Ascoli, at Catania
35 Parma -20 gd, v Messina, at Lazio, v Empoli
34 Siena -12 gd, v Empoli, at Palermo, v Lazio
-Already out: Messina & Ascoli
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Fulham has hired coach Lawrie Sanchez on a permanent basis. He was brought in last month to try and save the team from relegation. He did what he was hired to do in the interim, so they have rewarded him with the full time spot. (thanks to BQ for sending me this)
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Barcelona led Getafe 5-2 after the first leg of the semifnals in the Copa del Ray, aka The Kings Cup, aka the Spanish league cup competition, but last night they got blown out 4-0 and Getafe now advance to the final v Sevilla, 6-5 on aggregate! Sevilla cruised past Deportivo la Coruna 5-0 on agg.
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One of three teams in England fighting to survive the Premiership drop is West Ham. And Yanks Abroad talks to their American defender Jonathan Spector about his teams huge game against his former team Manchester United. You can see the game live at 9am central time Sunday on Fox Soccer Channel. Wigan & Sheffield United are the other two hoping to survive.
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Lastly, The excellent folks at EPL Talk are rolling out their newest feature this weekend:
We'll be debuting a new interactive soccer show on the Internet this Saturday.
The live show is available from Talkshoe.com at Noon ET and will feature special guests Steven Cohen (World Soccer Daily), John Nicholson (Football 365), Phil McThomas (Soccer Shout), Brian Koski (Championship Talk) and myself.
We'll be discussing several soccer-related topics with an American twist. For example, has the English Premier League reached its peak of popularity in the United States or will it continue to grow? etc, etc.
The audience will be able to listen to the show via streaming audio, participate in an online chat, and pose questions to the special guests via phone.
More info here.

Monster Trucks Gone Wild News

Phil Ball of Soccernet favorably compared Sevilla's amazing right back Daniel Alves to "tenacious Manchester United defensive midfielder of the 1980's, Remi Moses - whom his colleagues affectionately nicknamed 'dogshit' (because he was everywhere)."


MLS weekend schedule (all times central):
Thurs May 10
Colorado v Salt Lake - 8:00 ESPN2
Sat May 12
Toronto v Chicago - 2:30 on FSC
Columbus v Chivas USA - 6:30 Direct Kick
Kansas City v Dallas - 7:00 Direct Kick
Los Angeles v New England - 9:30 Direct Kick & HDNet
Sun May 13
New York v Colorado - 2:00 Telefutura
-DC & Houston do not have games.
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Kansas City coach Curt Onolfo does a great radio interview with Soren Petro on 810am in KC. Onolfo is a pretty fired up guy. I like it.
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Steven Goff reports today on his Soccer Insider blog that DCU captain Jaime Moreno has been called up to play for his native Bolivia v Ireland on May 26 in Foxborough. He will miss DC's game v Houston. Bummer for the DCU. Hooray for Jaime.
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Frank Dell'apa at Soccernet calls New England midfielder Steve Ralston one of the most underrated MLS players ever.
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Our friend Justin down in Arizona is part of the crew trying to drive interest in a MLS team for Phoenix. They have two places on the web with info that you should check out. The ubiquitos MySpace page and an official MLS Phoenix Rising webiste. Help em build some excitement won't you.
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Mexican Playoffs - The next round first leg match-ups last night & tonight:
Wed May 9
UANL 1-3 Guadalajara
UAG 0-1 Cruz Azul
Thur May 10
Atlas v America
Santos v Pachuca
-Return legs on Sat May 12 & 13.
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Things appear to still be a mess between the Trinidad & Tobago Football Federation and their players. The team was even suspended from operation due to a financial crisis earlier this year. With FIFA scoundrel Jack Warner being part of their operation is there any wondering why its such a mess. It sad too, cuz they are really coming on strong at both the senior and junior levels.
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Copa Libertadores - Round of 16 second leg matches (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue May 8
Colo Colo 2-1 America - America wins 4-2 on aggregate.
Toluca 2-0 Cucuta Deportivo - Cucuta wins 5-3 on aggregate.
-Wed May 9
Velez Sarsfield 3-1 Boca Juniors - Boca advance 4-3 on aggregate.
Flamengo 2-0 Defensor Sporting - Defensor adv 3-2 on agg.
Gremio 2-0 Sao Paulo - Gremio adv 2-1 on agg.
-Match reports via Sports Illustrated.
-Thu May 10
Santos v Caracas (2-2)
Libertad v Parana (2-1)
Necaxa v Nacional (2-3)
Who has advanced to the next round: America, Cucuta Boca Juniors, Defensor Sporting & Gremio.
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Forward Vincenzo Montella has ended his loan to Fulham early and returned to Roma.
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I know there was a lot more today, but forgive me, I did not get to to it all, cuz my life got in the way.

Horrible Sick-In-The-Gut Feeling

As the days, weeks & months tick by without Sunil Gulati naming a permanent coach for Team USA it becomes more and more clear to me that his intent has become naming Manchester United assistant Carlos Queiroz as our leader.

While Bob Bradley has done a good enough job running the ship since December, Gulati has sat still not giving Bradley the full reigns. I have seen no reason why they would wait all this time and then give BB the job now. That would have been a total waste of everyone's time.

No, Gulati has been told to wait until the Man United season was over if he wants his guy. Sir Alex Ferguson has been showing Gulati that he is bigger than US Soccer by making them wait for the man they wanted since the day Klinsi said no.

And this thought of having Queiroz in charge of our beloved team is what gives me that brutal nausea.

Queiroz may be the assistant to one of the best club teams in the world, but his experience as a head man is nothing short of atrocious.

He is praised for being the svengali behind the Portuguese golden era when guys like Rui Costa, Figo, Pauletta, Jorge Costa etc came up and won a handful of various youth titles. But when Queiroz coached them on the senior level they were very mediocre.

Go look up his season in charge of Real Madrid. There was a doozy.

How about his term in charge of the New York New Jersey Metrostars? I know everyone else failed at that job too, including Bradley, but come on.

CQ did lead South Africa through qualifying for Japan Korea 02, but was fired before the big tournament.

How about......? Aaah, forget it. There are other belly flops out there if you wanna track em down.

He is best known in this country for writing the so-called brilliant USA Project 2010 manifesto (which was loved for its boldness when it was written in 98, and dropped as crap a couple years later when people woke up from their day dreams).This crazy pipe dream was a plan for the USA to compete the World Cup in 2010. (Did you know Gulati worked on this report too, which is where their friendship is derived from?)

All in all, Queiroz's only success has been at the youth level in Portugal with some extraordinarily talented players.

And Gulati thinks this is the guy to lead the USA to the next level now! I can't even laugh at that one.

Let us all hope that my notion is wrong about this being the guy that we will see in charge in a couple of weeks, but I feel it very strongly in my gut. And that is not good.

So there you go, my hypothesis for today. It's not based on any actual facts. It may change tomorrow. It may not. But no one is talking about the giant elephant in the middle of the room, so I figured I would bring it up.

Be With You News

From 3rd Degree - Dallas Coach Steve Morrow on the unexcused absence of Carlos Ruiz from the team on Monday: Morrow: “He was supposed to report on Monday with everyone else. He called with a legit reason. That’s all I have to say about that.” Reporter: “So it’s an excused absence?” Morrow: “No. It’s not excused.”

~and~

After the Open Cup game NY coach Bruce Arena reportedly talked to Landon Donovan about LA's third goal. Arena said to Landon that he technically made a mistake in passing to Quaranta who was 2 yards offside (the ref did not call it and the goal stood), to which Donovan replied: "It was 4."

~and~

LA Galaxy defender Ian Russell tells Andrea Canales about the expectations when playing for Los Angeles: "There’s definitely a lot of pressure, much more so than there was when I was playing in San Jose."


The Voice Of San Diego is reporting that one of the guys behind a failed bid to purchase DC United last year is leading a new group trying to make a deal for an expansion team south of San Diego, basically right on the Mexican border at Tijuana. (thanks to Ethan for the story)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And Las Vegas wants in on the action too. The Las Vegas Sun newspaper says that some very rich guys have put together a group to explore the possibility of a MLS team in Sin City. They have also hired Paul Caligiuri as their spokesperson. Hmmmm, I seem to remember something abut the last time I saw Paul he was pacing back and forth on the side of a highway in the middle of the night in suburban Dallas. He seemed to be searching for something. Maybe it was an expansion franchise. Maybe it's just my hazy memory. (thanks to Kevin for sending me this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Open Cup qualifier last night for MLS teams:
Los Angeles 3-1 New York - the game ended regulation 0-0 and went to extra time for the goal explosion - LA goals by Landon Donovan (PK), Kyle Martino & Santino Quaranta. NY goal by Juan Pablo Angel.
-Cobi Jones got a straight red card for "stepping" on Dave Van Den Bergh, but Dema Kovalenko reciprocated just a few minutes later with a second yellow of his own to make it 10 v 10. That Dema sure is a nice fella, always thinking of others.
Match report by Luis Bueno at LA Soccer News.
Match report by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Match report by Phil Collin of the LA Daily News.
Match report by Gary Richards of the 2 G's Radio Show, for USOpenCup.com
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

People are raving about the performance from LA backup keeper Steve Cronin. He made 14 saves (including a PK by Jozy Altidore) in a game dominated on the field, but not the scoreboard where it counts, by the Red Bulls! Andrea Canales at LA Soccer News with the story.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer on the Red Bulls debut from Juan Pablo Angel, including a goal.
-Luis Bueno sitting in the press box shot this video clip of JPA's first goal! (gracias Luis)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I see where Justin Mapp of Chicago has joined the bright yellow shoes club.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Houston has traded forward Alejandro Moreno to Columbus for midfielder Joseph Ngwenya. Seems like an odd deal to me. I don't see where either teams gains much or fills obvious holes. But maybe both guys just need a change of scenery.
-Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with the story.
-Fallas also reports that the Dynamo will bring in Dutch forward Dyron Daal on trial. Dynamo-Dutch-Dyron-Daal - the 4 D's.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On his Soccer Insider blog, Steven Goff says Columbus is shopping Eddie Gaven for a possible trade too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Real Salt Lake fan site Are You Loyal has some details from the most recent agreement between local government bodies helping finance the new RSL stadium, with news also pertaining to the proposed Real Salt Lake - Real Madrid Soccer Academy. (thanks to Ethan for the link)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Freddy Adu was out golfing on Monday afternoon with teammates, and got beaned in the head by a ball hit by the group behind them! Damn. He is ok though.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A story on exciting New York rookie winger Dane Richards from his hometown paper, the Jamaica Gleaner.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dan Steinberg's DC Sports Bog, from the Washington Post, gives us Lunch With Bobby Boswell.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Smallwood at the Philadelphia Daily News draws fairly small minded and out of touch comparisons between the LA Galaxy signing of David Beckham to the New York Cosmos signing of Pele. (thanks to Justin for sending us this story)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kevin McGeehan at the US Players Assoc looks at the NBA teams in Portland and Seattle for clues on how MLS teams in those cities might fare.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Coaching Hot Seat - with Ellinger out of RSL, who could be the next to go?:
1. Mo Johnston - Toronto
2. Tom Soehn - DC
3. Sigi Schmid - Columbus
4. Preki - Chivas USA
5. Frank Yallop - LA
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America with a great article on how MLS is turning the corner financially by using their marketing arm SUM as a cash cow. Very good stuff here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones at the LA Times with his weekly news round up Corner Kicks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A recent picture of the fabulous Kenny Arena with some other soccer dude. Kenny used to leave comments here, come back Kenny, we miss you.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ryan Hunt of Sports Illustrated with his weekly MLS wrap up - Free Kicks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet previews Thursday nights Colo v RSL match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS weekly match schedule (all times central):
Thurs May 10
Colorado v Salt Lake - 8:00 ESPN2
Sat May 12
Toronto v Chicago - 2:30 on FSC
Columbus v Chivas USA - 6:30 Direct Kick
Kansas City v Dallas - 7:00 Direct Kick
Los Angeles v New England - 9:30 Direct Kick & HDNet
Sun May 13
New York v Colorado - 2:00 Telefutura
-DC & Houston do not have games.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Monchengladbach technical director Christian Ziege has announced that Kasey Keller has been released from the team. I would think KK is not too happy about this.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yanks Abroad says Bobby Convey is back in England training at the Reading facility. He should be ready to go for preseason training later this summer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Bradley & Heerenveen beat Ajax 1-0 in the first leg of one of two rounds for the 2nd Dutch Champions League spot. The return leg is Sunday in Amsterdam. The other two teams, Twente Enschede & AZ Alkmaar played to a 1-1 draw. Return legs are this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexican Playoffs - The next round first leg match-ups tonight:
Atlas v America
UAG v Cruz Azul
UANL v Guadalajara
Santos v Pachuca
-Return legs on Sat May 12.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores - Round of 16, second leg matches (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue May 8
Colo Colo 2-1 America - America wins 4-2 on aggregate.
Toluca 2-0 Cucuta Deportivo - Cucuta wins 5-3 on aggregate.
-Match reports via Sports Illustrated.
-Wed May 9
Velez Sarsfield v Boca Juniors (0-3)
Flamengo v Defensor Sporting (0-3)
Gremio v Sao Paulo (0-1)
-Thu May 10
Santos v Caracas (2-2)
Libertad v Parana (2-1)
Necaxa v Nacional (2-3)
Who has advanced to the next round: America & Cucuta.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Serie A-
(3 left to play in Italy - 8 teams fighting over 1 relegation spot)
37 Cagliari -10 goal differential, at Fiorentina, v Roma, at Ascoli
37 Catania -23 gd, v Milan, at Sampdoria, v Chievo
36 Livorno -16 gd, v Sampdoria, at Torino, v Atalanta
36 Torino -18 gd, at Roma, v Livorno, at Inter
35 Reginna 0 gd, v Chievo, at Empoli, v Milan
35 Chievo -9 gd, at Reggina, v Ascoli, at Catania
35 Parma -20 gd, v Messina, at Lazio, v Empoli
34 Siena -12 gd, v Empoli, at Palermo, v Lazio
-Already out: Messina & Ascoli
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Italia Final, first leg was last night:
Roma 6-2 Inter - Roma tries to end their streak of losing 2 cup titles in a row to Inter. Roma goals by Francesco Totti, Daniele de Rossi, Simone Perrotta, Mancini, & 2 by Christian Panucci. Both Inter goals by Hernan Crespo.
-Second leg is May 17 in Milan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Did you know - one time French defensive stalwart Jean-Pierre Adams has been in a coma since 1982 when a knee operation went all wrong. Sad.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA.com readers submit the questions for Barcelona star Lionel Messi to answer! (thanks to BQ for sending me this)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copenhagen have clinched their 2nd straight Danish league title.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stephen Brunt at the Toronto Globe & Mail looks at the fiasco hiring a new coach for Canada has become.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We all thought Christian "Bobo" Vieri was old, tired, and completely worn out. We were wrong - did you see the goal he bagged for Atalanta last weekend? 40 yards out, he tips it to himself and side volleys a gorgeous goal over the keepers head!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lastly, Liverpool are headed to Spain to prepare for the Champions League final. You have to wonder if golf or karaoke will be on the agenda this time?!?!?!

Dirty Old Tire News

The Guardian asks new Premiership winning Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson: "And where does it rank compared with your other titles?" To which SAF replies: "It has to be the club's greatest achievement."


du Nord MLS Player Of The Week - Clint Mathis of the New York Red Bulls.
-I was not as convinced this week as in weeks past about who should get his award. Its not that players weren't good, but no one was truly great. Mathis I think in the end stood above the rest for his 2 goals and 1 assist, on the road. That second goal was a tough header that he made look almost casual! Plus the fact that we have all been waiting nearly 4 years for him to do this again makes it seem more special, doesn't it! By "do this" I mean play hard week-in week-out like he wants to accomplish something meaningful. Sure he had the red card two weeks ago, but other than that he has been a serious driving force in Bruce Arena's NYRB machine. Who saw this coming? Certainly not me. Congrats to Clint, and let's hope he took Cleetus out and threw him off a cliff somewhere a long way from New Jersey (cuz we all know that like Gollum, Cleetus is tough to kill off.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob Luder of the KC Star is reporting that Kansas City Wizards star center back Jimmy Conrad had his jaw re-fractured last Saturday by a Ricardo Virtuoso forearm smash. It's not as bad as when it happened to him last season, but he will probably miss at least 2 weeks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Buzz Carrick of the always excellent 3rd Degree site, posted a note on Big Soccer that Carlos Ruiz did not show up at FC Dallas training on Monday and was not excused. It has been a while since El Pescadito pulled this stunt, so I guess we were due.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones at the LA Times talks to MLS deputy dawg Ivan Gazidis about criticism coming from people a lot bigger than me (in quality, not quantity) of the leagues salary structure, and particularly the low wages paid to guys in the "developmental" roster spots. Gazidis compares those players to guys getting paid A & AA wages in minor league baseball. What kind of an argument is that? The spots he is referring too are not for minor league soccer players. They are for guys on MAJOR League Soccer rosters, who many times suit up in the first 11. Each team only has 28 guys! Someone on a baseball teams A-ball roster is about the 100th man on a franchises totem pole. (Hell, even that's not fair though, cuz baseball has about 100,000 times the revenue of soccer in America.) Too bad Jones didn't make this argument back to Gazidis and get a real response. Gazidis also tries to make a big deal out of the fact that "24 or 25" players over the past 2 years have been moved up from those wages to "senior squad" pay. That is 1 guy per team per year! Big deal! Get back to us when you have a real answer buddy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Toronto has booked international friendly's with Benfica on May 23rd and Aston Villa on July 25th.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A Newswire report says sales of Toronto FC official gear is 3 times bigger than any other MLS team, and that Adidas is struggling to meet demand. Awesome!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to New York midfielder Clint Mathis about his terrific start to the 07 season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales at LA Soccer News talks to Mathis as well. (This is also a bit of a preview for tonight's Open Cup match v LA.) Oh, and Mathis loves NY.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sulaiman Folarin at Soccernet does a Q & A with new Red Bull Juan Pablo Angel.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle examines the attitude of the Dynamo that got them past a rough start, and onto the ass kicking they laid on Colorado in the second 45 mintues on Saturday. And other notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram with a story on Dallas midfielder and potential star Ramon Nunez.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I have to laugh, every time a player from Salt Lake is nominated for MLS Goal Of The Week it usually is the winner cuz those fans stuff the ballot box. I guess I am happy for their passion, but it still makes me laugh at the junior high attitude. This week they are voting overtime for Chris Brown's goal, which I didn't even think was the best RSL goal of the game, the Chris Klein goal was. And Dwayne DeRosario hit the goal of the week, with Christian Gomez in second place.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer America's MLS Confidential asks, why can't ref decisions be overturned post game like suspensions are handed out?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Open Cup qualifier tonight for MLS teams:
-Tue May 8
Los Angeles v New York
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno on his Sideline Views blog has some notes and thoughts about this Open Cup match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A sprained ankle will keep NYRB keeper Ronald Waterreus out of tonight's game for sure, and possibly longer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil Collin at the Daily Breeze talks to new LA keeper Joe Cannon about how things are going with the team and him so far.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Midfielder Freddy Juarez has been voted Blue Sky Soccer's Minnesota Thunder Man Of The Match v Vancouver. The team lost 1-2 on Sunday. (Voting for this award is conducted by a secret cabal.) Juarez hit a spectacular goal to tie the game. Hopefully we will get a link to Juarez's monster goal soon. Juarez was named to the USL First Division Team Of The Week as well.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

More American soccer is coming to a radio (maybe) near you. "Radio station group Lotus Communication Corp. purchased English- and Spanish-language radio and Internet radio rights for U.S. Soccer, Major League Soccer and InterLiga matches. Lotus' first broadcast of the U.S. National Teams is expected to be the U.S. MNT vs. China match at 5 p.m. PT on June 2 in San Jose, Calif. The company will begin MLS broadcasts in 2008. Broadcasts of national team games will continue through 2014." Lotus owns 23 stations in Arizona, California & Nevada, plus one in Texas. Most of them are Spanish language, so I am not so sure how much this will really mean to us gringos.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thanks to Scott A who sent us this link of Clint Dempsey's 30 Million Pound goal!
-Frank Dell'apa at the Boston Globe writes about The Deuce's big goal.
-More Deuce praise from the Fulham website.
-The Insider from Soccernet was on hand for the match. Read the report.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul Gardner of the New York Sun wants US Soccer and president Sunil Gulati to stop jerking around and hire Bob Bradley as the permanent head coach of the Team USA. Garder does not have any inside scoop on the answer, so don't expect to read it here. (I have my own thoughts on what is going to happen, and will probably post them tomorrow.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The good part of the Bob Bradley interim status story is that we are not nearly as bad off as Canada when it comes to the head coach vacancy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Manchester Evening News says USA & Man City midfielder DaMarcus Beasley will most likely NOT return to the team for next season. Which means that he will again be the property of PSV Eindhoven.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shaun Fuentes at Soccer 365 has the great story of the Trinidad & Tobago U17 team that just qualified for the Youth World Cup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Joel Aceves at LA Soccer News previews the Mexican playoff match ups, that start tomorrow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores - Round of 16 second leg matches (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue May 8
Colo Colo v America (0-3)
Toluca v Cucuta Deportivo (1-5)
-Wed May 9
Velez Sarsfield v Boca Juniors (0-3)
Flamengo v Defensor Sporting (0-3)
Gremio v Sao Paulo (0-1)
-Thu May 10
Santos v Caracas (2-2)
Libertad v Parana (2-1)
Necaxa v Nacional (2-3)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Italian Cup Final first leg is this week - this is the 3rd straight year these two clubs have met for the TIM Cup with Inter winning the previous 2:
Wed May 9
Roma v Inter
-Second leg is May 17.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with new Celta de Vigo manager Hpsycho Stoichkov.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In England yesterday Charlton lost to Tottenham and have officially been relegated. That leaves Wigan, West Ham & Sheffield United to battle over the one remaining relegation place.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian has a Q & A with title winning Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes at the International Herald Tribune reports that the Asian Football Confederation wants to cancel Man Utd's scheduled tour of Asian countries this summer because the dates conflict with the regions championship tournament! Take a stand!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Norman Hubbard at Soccernet gives us the Ten Worst Buys by Premiership teams this season. I think there is only really one stiff on that list, and its not cuz he's bad, it's cuz they overpaid by so much. You guess which one it is.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog writes that the son of England semi-legend Teddy Sheringham, Charlie, can be found training these days at the Crystal Palace USA youth academy in Maryland.

Green Jean News

The USA U17 team finished first in their qualifying group for the Youth World Cup in Korea at the end of summer. While practicing for their final match on the home field of Jamaican club Tivoli Gardens local kids watched and shouted out "Go England!", then later asked "Are you Mexico?"

~and~

Clint Dempsey saved Fulham's season by scoring the winning goal (his first for the club) v Liverpool and ensuring the teams place in the Premiership for next year!


MLS scores from this weekend:
-Thu May 3
DC 1-1 New England - DCU goal by Jaime Moreno (PK). New Eng goal by Andy Dorman.
-Sat May 5
KC 1-0 Columbus - goal by Jose Burciaga Jr.
Match report by Bob Luder of the KC Star.
Post-game notes from Luder.
Salt Lake 3-3 New York - RSL goals by Chris Klein, Jeff Cunningham & Chris Brown (of all people). NYRB goals by Dane Richards & 2 by Clint Mathis.
Match report by James Edwards of the Deseret Morning News.
Match report from the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match report by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Colorado 1-2 Houston - Colo goal by Roberto Brown. Houston goals by Brian Ching, Dwayne De Rosario & Kenny Dalglish. (Officially they gave the 3rd Hous goal to DDR, but anyone who watched the game with replay capability will tell you the ball was already over the line when he touched it.)
Match report by John Meyer of the Denver Post.
Match report (in the vaguest sense) from the Rocky Mountain News. More of story on keeper Bouna Coundoul though.
Post-game notes from George Tanner of RMN's FC Rocky.
-Sun May 6
DC 2-1 Chivas - DCU goals by Christian Gomez & Jaime Moreno (PK). CUSA goal by Maykel Galindo.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
New England 3-1 Chicago - NE goals by Jeff Larentowicz, Steve Ralston & Wells Thompson. Chic goal by Chris Rolfe.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report by Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A few of my MLS game notes:
-The league has to get rid of this exclusive HDnet crap. There are only about 11 soccer fans in America with this channel, and the rest of us are missing out on games. Especially people with Direct Kick. Hell, we don't even get to see highlights most of the time, cuz HDNet doesn't want their precious hi-def picture compromised by lo-def technology. Well, if no one see's the hi-def, then it might as well be no-def.
-And while I am busy complaining about TV, during the ESPN games when they cut away to give us some completely useless Sports Center update of seemingly day old highlights from OTHER sports, my blood just comes to a boil. They are going to miss something big very soon, and we will all be very upset!
-New York goes from no goals given up in 4 previous matches, to 3 surrendered in 1 game. 2 of them coming in the 90th minute and in stoppage time!
-Not a great start for new RSL coach Jason Kreis as his team pulled a 3-3 draw with NY out of very very thin air, but at least they fought back and salvaged something. I think that is an adequate start for a pretty sorry (so far) team.
-Houston is spending Monday & Tuesday at owner Phil Anschutz luxury Colorado ranch. Many of his other sports teams over the last few years have done the same.
-much more later
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS has named Houston's Dwayne DeRosario as the Player Of The Week. They say he got the award after scoring 2 goals in Colorado. If that is the case then this is a fraudulent reason for the award because he did not score his teams third goal! I stand by that proclamation. That goal was either a Kenny Dalglish goal or an own goal. DDR touched it after it crossed the goal line. The league simply wants to pimp DDR by giving him this award. Just like the Eddie Johnson for player of the month in April when clearly that award belonged to Taylor Twellman.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Great news for New England and Shalrie Joseph fans. Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News reports that "Shalrie Joseph and Major League Soccer have resumed talks about a new contract."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

9,508 at Gillette Stadium huh? What is wrong with people? You have one of the best teams year in and year out, but you give them no love. Sad, really sad. Those couple hundred die hards who would kill for their team have my sympathy, cuz they deserve much better fellow fans.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post had a story yesterday on DC United's young Ivory Coast striker Guy-Roland Kpene, who just last week finally received his international clearance and work visa.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goff also makes note on his Soccer Insider blog of the woeful attendance at Kansas City's two home games so far. It is beyond embarrassing if you ask me.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales at Top Drawer Soccer asks very direct questions of both Salt Lake's new coach Jason Kreis & former coach John Ellinger.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New York Red Bulls forward Juan Pablo Angel has received his work visa and is now cleared to play for his new club.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As was predicted here (maybe a little too gleefully) Panamanian striker Luis Tejada was cut from Real Salt Lake today by new coach Jason Kreis.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Salt Lake will join the parade of teams in the USA taking on the Chinese national team. Team USA & Colorado had already announced matches. RSL plays them on June 7th.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at Soccernet rounds up the weekends MLS matches and looks at the coaching debut for JK of RSL.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The new Soccernet MLS Power Rankings does not punish New York for caving to RSL in the closing seconds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next round of US Open Cup qualifier for MLS starts this week:
-Tue May 8
Los Angeles v New York
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division scores from the weekend:
Friday
Carolina 0-0 Puerto Rico
Rochester 1-1 Vancouver
Sat
Atlanta 2-0 Carolina
Miami 0-1 Montreal
Seattle 1-0 Portland
sun
Charleston 1-1 Rochester
Minnesota 1-2 Vancouver
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Wegner with a match report at Blue Sky Soccer from my Thunders 1-2 loss to Vancouver in their home opener.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF U17 World Championship Group B Qualifying Tournament from Kingston Jamaica.
-The USA advanced on Friday before they even took the field. Trinidad & Tobago beat Canada 2-1 leaving the USA in a spot to finish no worse than 3rd, with 3 teams advancing. Congrats boys!
-Costa Rica became the first team to qualify for the Youth World Cup from this group.
-And with a miracle win over the home team Jamaica, Trinidady & Tobago came back from the dead to leap over Canada and claim the third and final spot in the finals.
Here are all the scores:
Sat April 28
-Costa Rica 2-0 Trinidad & Tobago - goals by Jorge Castro & Diego Brenes.
-Jamaica 0-3 Canada - goals by Daniel Tannous, Jarek Whiteman & William Hyde
Mon April 30
-Canada 0-0 Costa Rica
-Trinidad & Tobago 0-3 USA - goals by Alex Nimo (2) & Ellis McLoughlin, who was also red carded.
Wed May 2
-USA 2-1 Canada - USA goals by Billy Schuler & Mykell Baytes. Canada goal by Cedric Carrie.
-Jamaica 0-1 Costa Rica - goal by Esteban Lunar.
Fri May 4
-Canada 1-2 Trinidad & Tobago - Can goal by Randy Edwini-Bonsu. T&T goals by Leston Paul & Stephen Knox.
-Jamaica 3-2 USA - Jam goals by Shamari Brown, Ogrill Dever & John-Ross Doyley. USA goals by Alex Nimo & Sheanon Williams.
Sun May 6
-USA 2-1 Costa Rica - USA goals by Greg Garza & Ellis McLoughlin. CR goal by Marcos Urena.
-Jamaica 0-1 Trinidad & Tobago - T&T goal by Kevin Molino.
-Standings (points - games played - team - goal differential)
9 - 4 - USA +4
7 - 4 - Costa Rica +2
6 - 4 - Trinidad & Tobago -3
4 - 4 - Canada +1
3 - 4 - Jamaica -3
-The top 3 from this group will advance to the finals in Korea in late summer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Official US Soccer match reports from the Jamaica game - and - the Costa Rica game. Both have links to post-game player & coach quotes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Robert Ziegler at Top Drawer Soccer covered the USA U17 team and has match reports on both matches - v Jamaica - and - v Costa Rica.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Let's check in with our favorite Americans in Europe and see how their weekend matches went:
-DaMarcus Beasley - Manchester City - started and went the first 60 minutes of 0-1 loss to Man United who clinched the league with the win.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - played the whole match in a 1-0 win over Unterhaching.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - started in a 1-0 win over Liverpool. The victory and 3 points secures them a spot in the Premiership for next season.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - finished the regular season in a playoff spot for the Eredivisie entrants to the Champions League and UEFA Cup. They open the playoffs at home Wednesday v Ajax.
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - another big 90 minutes in the center of defense as they beat league Champions Copenhagen on the road 1-2.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - started and played 90 as always at right back in his teams 2-0 win over Cottbus. Hannover are 2 points out of the UEFA Cup spots with 2 games to play.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - play at Malmo on Tuesday.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - did not suit up again this week, as his team won 0-2 at Reading.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - came on as a sub in the 53rd minute and got his first Premiership goal in a 1-0 win over the Liverpeople. The victory and 3 points secures them a spot in the Premiership for next season. Huge huge huge for the Deuce!
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - of course he started in goal and also got the shutout, 0-2 at Newcastle.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - started as always but lost 0-2 to bottom dwellers Watford. Reading sit in the final UEFA Cup spot and may need to win their final game at Blackburn to keep it.
-Kamani Hill - Wolfsburg - was a 63rd minute sub of a 0-2 home loss to Dortmund.
-Tim Howard - Everton - In goal again for a big 3-0 win over Portsmouth. The win clinches them a spot in next seasons UEFA Cup!
-Kasey Keller - Monchengladbach - out for the season with a hip injury, and the team have been relegated. They drew 1-1 with Bayern Munich. Where will Kasey suit up next?
-Eddie Lewis - Leeds - did not dress in the teams last game, a 2-0 loss to Derby. Leeds has been relegated to League One. I think its a safe bet that we can expect to see Eddie in MLS shortly.
-Brian McBride - Fulham - started and went 85 minutes in a 1-0 win over the Liverpeople. The victory and 3 points secures them a spot in the Premiership for next season.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Newcastle - started and went the distance in a 0-2 loss to Blackburn.
-Heath Pearce - Nordsjaelland - played 90 in a 3-3 draw at home v Brondby.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - did not dress for this team's last game of the season, a 3-2 win over Norwich.
-Jonathan Spector - came on as a 79th minute sub of a 3-1 win over Bolton that got them out of the relegation zone. Now they gotta keep it together for one more game.
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - played the last 20 minutes of a 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Tromso.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - still out due to injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexican Playoffs - 2 qualifiers join the top 6 teams now.
Sat May 5 - second leg matches (with first leg scores included):
Atlas 0-0 Morelia -after ending 1-1 on agg, Atlas advance with the away goal tie breaker.
San Luis 0-2 Santos Laguna - Santos advance 2-1 on Aggregate.
-The next round first leg match-ups will be played Wed May 9:
Atlas v America
UAG v Cruz Azul
UANL v Guadalajara
Santos v Pachuca
-Return legs on Sat May 12.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores - Round of 16 second leg matches (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue May 8
Colo Colo v America (0-3)
Toluca v Cucuta Deportivo (1-5)
-Wed May 9
Velez Sarsfield v Boca Juniors (0-3)
Flamengo v Defensor Sporting (0-3)
Gremio v Sao Paulo (0-1)
-Thu May 10
Santos v Caracas (2-2)
Libertad v Parana (2-1)
Necaxa v Nacional (2-3)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two of the big Euro league races are still really tight. Here are the weekend's matches and standings:
-La Liga-
Scores:
Real Sociedad 0-2 Barcelona
Real Madrid 3-2 Sevilla
Deportivo La Coruna 1-2 Valenica
Zaragoza 0-0 Racing Santander
Standings:
65 Barcelona
63 Real Madrid
61 Sevilla
59 Valencia
55 Zaragoza
(5 left to play in Spain)
-Bundesliga-
Matches:
Schalke 1-0 Nurnberg
Stuttgart 2-0 Mainz
Hertha Berlin 1-4 Werder Bremen
Standings:
65 Schalke
64 Stuttgart
63 Werder Bremen
(2 left to play in Germany)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Manchester United have won the Premiership title! With 2 games still to play, including a head to head match up, Man U now have an insurmountable 7 point lead.
-Weekend scores that mattered most:
Man City 0-1 Man United
Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea
-Even Man U main man Fergie the Red Nosed Manager could not resist the allure of tuning in to see the end of Chelsea. From The Times of London.
-Charlton, Wigan, West Ham & Sheffield United are fighting it out to avoid 2 relegation spots.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Also in England, the Championship promotion playoffs are all set:
-Sat May 12
Southampton v Derby
-Sun May 13
Wolverhampton v West Bromich Albion
-Tue May 15
Derby v Southampton
-Wed May 16
Wolverhampton v West Bromich Albion
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The money/business has gotten so big in the top leagues that law suits are more & more becoming the common way to settle things - as opposed to on the field. Rob Hughes at the International Herald Tribune looks at this new breed of mess.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glen Roeder has stepped down/been fired as coach of Newcastle. Expect Sam Allardyce to get the job.
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Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer see's both soccer documentaries that debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival, Sons Of Sakhnin United & The Power Of The Game and reviews them for us.
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Amy Lawrence at the Observer examines the differences in the Premiership today from its origins in the Fall of 1992.
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The Times of London with the 4th in their excellent series of reports on derby's from around the world - Sporting v Benfica in Portugal!
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Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated goes to the old world to see local football - Besiktas of Turkey.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lastly, what's wrong with this headline? "Manchester United Wins U.K. Soccer Title". This comes from the New York Times website in the soccer section. It must stun the teams in Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland to know that they lost their championships to Man U. I have given up writing notes to the NYT sports editors cuz they never ever reply, obviously don't take the game seriously in their sports coverage, and even more obviously have their head way up their own ass. Now back to massive daily Kentucky Derby coverage.

Blinding Sunset News

Chivas USA coach Preki comments on the status of midfielder Amado Guevara with the team: "I have a vision of where this club is going and he's not part of it."

MLS schedule this week (all times central):
-Thu May 3
DC 1-1 New England - DC goal by Jamie Moreno (PK). NE goal by Andy Dorman.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post. - Hey at least DC got a point.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of The Boston Globe. - The Rev's are pissed off about the officiating.
Post-game analysis by Ian Plenderleith at the US Players Assoc.
-Sat May 5
KC v Columbus - Noon on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v New York - 8pm on HDNet
Colorado v Houston - 8:30pm on FSC
-Sun May 6
DC v Chivas - 2pm on Telefutura
New England v Chicago - 4pm on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My MLS game notes - DC v NE:
-A couple of those ESPN pre-game New England player intros were pretty damn funny. Matt Reis was doing some bizarro grinning freak look, while Taylor Twellman stood hidden behind Pat Noonan doing some very odd cheerleader routine. Wow.
-DC tried playing with 4 in the back. Namoff at right back was at least a good move.
-DC's Fred2 went down with an injury, furiously rubbing his leg, so NE's Reis walked up to him and squirted water on it. Excellent irony.
-DC forward Jaime Moreno was not happy about starting the game on the bench. His reaction was this: "I can't say that on TV."
-Moreno did start the second half and drew & converted a PK for his teams only goal.
-NE defender James Riley had a terrible game at left back. He committed all kinds of reckless fouls, was called for non-fouls, knocked down two DC strikers in the box in almost identical fashion, only to have one called a PK and the other a yellow to the DC player for diving. Holy guacamole.
-Riley was also pretty out of hand with his screaming at Emilio for the supposed dive - which it wasn't. Several folks were over at my house watching the game and the consensus was that MLS has to take a page out of the NFL & NBA play book and start slamming players for this idiotic type of behavior.
-One guy at my house, Steve K, made an excellent comment on NE winger Khano Smith's shooting ability: "He's got that high & wide stuff mastered." Brilliant! (of course all my friends are brilliant)
-Ben Olsen was made captain of DCU for last nights game. I think he should have been given the armband a long time ago, like, the day after Etchevery retired, or maybe even before that.
-And Steve Ralston is a great choice for captain of New England.
-After a fairly uneventful first half it only took NE 30 seconds to score in the second half.
-Twellman's yellow shoes again provided the power on the goal. He did not score it, but he took a great shot which DC keeper Troy Perkins deflected right to Andy Dorman who put it away for the point.
-Oh, and Moreno was wearing those yellow shoes too. The numbers are growing. Maybe I should start a list of who is wearing em.
-The red card handed to NE's Shalrie Joseph was a fookin joke man! Yes, it was PROBABLY a foul, but in my opinion not yellow, and certainly not even in the same zip code as red. When I saw the ref flash red I figured it was a studs up tackle. Nope. Fair as Jennifer Connolly's skin.
-Fred2 later went down with a real injury, groin strain.
-Did ya see Stumpy Joe Franchino makes his return to the field for New Eng. He has been out dealing with personal issue since before the season started. We wish him all the best.
-Olsen at one point late in the game tried to goad Riley into a second yellow. Nice try vet.
-Crazy wild surge in the dying minutes from DC trying to steal the win. Olsen put a header off the cross bar, Moreno screamed for a hand ball, and Reis one handed away a great Emilio shot. What an ending!
-After the game Riley said Moreno gave him a wink after drawing the PK. Hahahahaha. Jaime, you crafty dog you!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Hush at Soccer New England writes about the refereeing in the DC v NE game, which he thought was atrocious. My problem was how terribly inconsistent it got. One knock down in the box was a PK, while another was a yellow for a dive?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Can someone tell me why 3 MLS teams, LA, Dallas & Toronto, are not playing this weekend, when all of them have their own stadium? Maybe its bull riding time again!
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The word from Toronto is that Paulo Nagamura was dealt to Chivas USA cuz he really wanted to be back in Los Angeles. Fair enough. Good job by TFC for making a guy happy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The MLS Players Union has posted the salaries of every player in the league, on their own site (I guess I didn't even know the union had their own site).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones of the LA Times on the Chivas USA - Amado Guevara disaster.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales of the LA Soccer News talks to Guevara's agent about his players mood and options.
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The latest rumor has MLS selling Guevara to a club in his native Honduras.
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Some stories from the local papers on the Real Salt Lake coaching change and its after effects:
-One and Two from the Deseret Morning News
-One and Two and Three and Four from the Salt Lake Tribune.
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First place New York will be in Salt Lake City this weekend for coach Kreis's debut. Ives Galarcep on his Soccer By Ives blog says that there is a chance Juan Pablo Angel could make his Red Bulls debut too!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob Luder at the Kansas City Star with a looks at the good start to Eddie Johnson's 2nd season in KC. (Notice I didn't write great, cuz he hasn't been. He has had enough quality chances on goal to have 7 or 8 goals already.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The US Players Assoc has a Q & A with Kansas City first year winger Michael Harrington. MH is off to a nice start, and he sure has some speed.
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Defender Shavar Thomas has moved across the hallway, from the Los Angeles Galaxy to Chivas USA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet previews all the weekend's MLS matches and gives his opinion on Jason Kreis as a coach.
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Hey waddaya know, Tino Palace is back at MLSnet with his latest edition of The Clean Sheet: Sticking To The Plan. For his latest efforts Tino was paid with a lovely framed and signed photo of England's Queen Mum, and a one year subscription to Modern Ranch Hand magazine (he is a known amateur historian in the field).
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Steven Goff on his Soccer Insider blog says DC will "announce a formal partnership with Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro." OK then.
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USL First Division games this weekend:
Friday
-Carolina v Puerto Rico
-Rochester v Vancouver
Saturday
-Atlanta v Carolina
-Miami v Montreal
-Seattle v Portland
Sunday
-Charleston v Rochester
-Minnesota v Vancouver
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Jesse Erdmann's Week 4 First Division Power Rankings from Blue Sky Soccer.
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CONCACAF U17 World Championship Group B Qualifying Tournament from Kingston Jamaica. Here is the matches & scores:
-Costa Rica became the first team to qualify for the Youth World Cup from this group.
Sat April 28
-Costa Rica 2-0 Trinidad & Tobago - goals by Jorge Castro & Diego Brenes.
-Jamaica 0-3 Canada - goals by Daniel Tannous, Jarek Whiteman & William Hyde
Mon April 30
-Canada 0-0 Costa Rica
-Trinidad & Tobago 0-3 USA - goals by Alex Nimo (2) & Ellis McLoughlin, who was also red carded.
Wed May 2
-USA 2-1 Canada - USA goals by Billy Schuler & Mykell Baytes. Canada goal by Cedric Carrie.
-Jamaica 0-1 Costa Rica - goal by Esteban Lunar.
Fri May 4
-Canada v Trinidad & Tobago
-Jamaica v USA - 7pm
Sun May 6
-USA v Costa Rica - 5pm
-Jamaica v Trinidad & Tobago
-Standings (points - games played - team - goal differential)
7 - 3 - Costa Rica +3
6 - 2 - USA +4
4 - 3 - Canada +2
0 - 2 - Jamaica -3
0 - 2 - Trinidad & Tobago -5
-The top 3 from this group will advance to the finals in Korea in late summer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The USA can qualify tonight with a win, or a draw in the Canada v Trinidad & Tobago game played right before theirs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Official USA U17 team blog.
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The Marin Independent Journal in Northern California catches up with former Team USA stalwart Hugo Perez. He is doing many things these days including assistant coach of the First Division's new California Victory from San Francisco.
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Well, Eddie Lewis and his Leeds team are history now. The were still mathematically not elimidated from the English Championship division until yesterday when the business side of the club was put into what the British call "Administration" which is a variation on what Americans call "Bankruptcy". The FA has a strict rule about this and any club filing for financial protection is automatically deducted 10 points. Meaning, just like that, Leeds are relegated to the League One aka the third division.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yanks Abroad talks to Frankie Simek of Sheffield Wednesday who comments on his teams season, and the plight of fellow American Lewis.
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Mexican Playoffs - 10 teams qualify and the bottom 4 of them playing home & away with winners joining top 6.
Sat May 5 - second leg matches (with first leg scores included):
-Atlas v Morelia (1-1)
-San Luis v Santos Laguna (1-0)
-The other 6 teams awaiting match-ups are:
America
Cruz Azul
Guadalajara
Pachuca
UAG
UANL
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Copa Libertadores:
-This week begins the round of 16 in the knock out stages.
1st Legs:
-Wed May 2-
Caracas 2-2 Santos
America 3-0 Colo Colo
Defensor Sporting 3-0 Flamengo
Sao Paulo 1-0 Gremio
Boca Juniors 3-0 Velez Sarsfield
-Thu May 3-
Parana 1-2 Libertad
Nacional 3-2 Necaxa
Cucuta Deportivo 5-1 Toluca
-Second leg matches next week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup semifinal scores:
-Werder Bremen 1-2 Espanyol - Esp advance 5-1 on aggregate. WB goal by Hugo Almeida. Espanyol goals by Ferran Corominas & Jesus Maria Lacruz.
-Sevilla 2-0 Osasuna - Sevilla advance to defend their title 2-1 on agg. Goals by Luis Fabiano & Renato.
-The all-Spanish final, Sevilla v Espanyol, is May 16 in Glasgow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Three of the big Euro league races are still really tight. Here are the weekend's matches and standings:
-La Liga: -
Matches:
Barcelona at Real Sociedad
Sevilla at Real Madrid
Real Madrid v Sevilla
Valenica at Deportivo La Coruna
Zaragoza v Racing Santander
Standings:
62 Barcelona
61 Sevilla
60 Real Madrid
56 Valencia
54 Zaragoza
(6 left to play in Spain)
-Bundesliga: - Big move for Stuttgart as their opponents at the top all lost, and Bayern Munich were eliminated from the race.
Matches:
Schalke v Nurnberg
Stuttgart v Mainz
Werder Bremen at Hertha Berlin
Standings:
62 Schalke
61 Stuttgart
60 Werder Bremen
(3 left to play in Germany)
-England: - Chelsea choked again with a draw.
Matches:
Manchester United at Manchester City
Chelsea at Arsenal
Standings:
85 Man United
80 Chelsea
(3 games left to play)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ecuadorean striker Agustin Delgado who was being chased by the New York Red Bulls, but had been banned for one year by FIFA for fighting when he played at LDU Quito, has had the suspension shortened to 6 months. Will NYRB still have room to add him? Another MLS club maybe? He is kinda nuts, but he is also a quality goal scorer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hey MLS, you wanna hire someone who knows what they hell they are doing when it comes to youth development??? The guy who has led the Liverpool Academy for the last 20 years just quit his job. Why did he quit, cuz he says head coach Rafa Benitez has been meddling with the youth teams. (Sounds like sour grapes to me.) This dude could be a gold mine. Hire him, and put him in charge of helping all the MLS youth teams get their act together.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Manchester Evening News talks to Ousmane Dabo of Man City who took a pretty serious looking beat down from teammate Joey Barton. Unpretty picture included.
-I think wisely Joey Barton, who has been suspended indefinitely by Man City, has taken his pinhead and left the country to find some solitude till shit blows over a little. The English tabloids have said he has "Fled The Country." Of course they said that.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Word from Italy today is that my hero, the ONE AND ONLY Ronaldo, has torn a thigh muscle in training and may be done for the season. No, he was doing great. No. Damn it all.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Marcela Mora y Araujo of the Guardian says that hand-balling eight-balling Argentine midget called Maradona is NOT down for the count!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lastly, Soccer America has the story of a "miracle" header. A 57 yard header for a goal!