Lake Street Taco Stand News

TA DA! The New LA Galaxy kit has been leaked. Here it is. And here is a shot of the back of the second shirt. This image is of the Adidas design scheme. The primary colors have been reported for many months as Midnight Blue and White, with Gold trim. And if you see the Galaxy on TV the Riot Squad has had a large Midnight Blue and White striped flag for at least a month or two.


Un Copa America:

USA 0-1 Colombia
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Match report by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Players ratings by Mahoney.
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du Nord Three Stars of the Game - USA v Colombia
3. Jaime Castrillon - nice strong header for the games only goal.
2. Brad Guzan - started the game looking shaky & could do nothing about saving the one goal, but he settled down and did an awesome job saving the penalty!
1. Robinson Zapata - did one of the most masterfully idiotic jobs of time wasting I have ever been privileged to witness. Have you ever seen someone get TWO yellows for time wasting? Holy moly. And after the second one he must have stayed on the field at least another 5 minutes and wasted all that time too. Magnificent performance. Did he make a save? I don't remember. One other thing - that's a pretty good name he has.
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A couple of my quick notes from the game:
-Colombia got the games only goal in the 14th minute on a header by Jaime Castrillon. The USA defense was helpless to stop it.
-Ooooof. That was one butt ugly game, wasn't it? Let's just quickly forget about it and move on.
-Herculez Gomez was really awful. Heath Pearce looked only slightly better.
-I think we all would have liked to see more of Lee Nguyen & Charlie Davies.
-Colombia are not very good, and an even slightly better USA team would have beaten them and Paraguay. Damn.
-Next USA game is on August 22 in Sweden.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times with some very thorough post-tournament notes. He urges some of you to come in off the ledge.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post with his post-tournament thoughts too.
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Tim Vickery of Sports Illustrated comes up with his argument on why this was not a waste of time for the USA, in his Copa group stage wrap up. (The last two paragraphs of the article.)
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Official game photos from US Soccer.
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Team USA blog.
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Group stage match schedule - all matches shown live on GolTV & TeleFutura:
Tue Jun 26
-Uruguay 0-3 Peru
-Venezuela 2-2 Bolivia
Wed Jun 27
-Ecuador 2-3 Chile
-Brazil 0-2 Mexico
Thu Jun 28
-Paraguay 5-0 Colombia
-Argentina 4-1 USA
Sat Jun 30
-Bolivia 0-1 Uruguay
-Venezuela 2-0 Peru
Sun Jul 1
-Brazil 3-0 Chile
-Mexico 2-1 Ecuador
Mon Jul 2
-USA 1-3 Paraguay
-Argentina 4-2 Colombia
Tue Jul 3
-Peru 2-2 Bolivia
-Venezuela 0-0 Uruguay
Wed Jul 4
-Mexico 0-0 Chile
-Brazil 1-0 Ecuador
Thu Jul 5
-Colombia 1-0 USA
-Argentina 1-0 Paraguay
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Final Group Stage Standings:
A
5 Venezuela - ADVANCE
4 Peru - ADVANCE
4 Uruguay - ADVANCE
2 Bolivia - OUT
B
7 Mexico - ADVANCE
6 Brazil - ADVANCE
4 Chile - ADVANCE
0 Ecuador - OUT
C
9 Argentina - ADVANCE
6 Paraguay - ADVANCE
3 Colombia - OUT
0 USA - OUT
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Marcela Mora y Araujo of the Guardian gets ready for the quarterfinals.
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Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated on Mexico as they get ready for the next round.
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Quaterfinal Matches:
Jul 7
Venezuela v Uruguay
Brazil v Chile
Jul 8
Argentina v Peru
Mexico v Paraguay
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This weeks MLS games:
-Thu Jul 5
Houston 4-0 New York - Hou goals by Joseph Ngwenya(2), Brian Ching & Stuart Holden.
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Match report from Big Apple Soccer.
Post-game notes by Fallas.
-Sat Jul 7
Columbus v Salt Lake - 6:30 central on Direct Kick
New England v Chivas - 6:30 central on HDNet & Direct Kick
Chicago v Toronto - 7:30 central on FSC & FSE
LA v KC - 9:30 central on Direct Kick
-Sun Jul 8
Columbus v New York - 7:00 central on Direct Kick
Houston v DC - 7:30 central on Direct Kick
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The Chicago Fire have a new coach today and he is Colombian Juan Carlos Osorio. This past season he coached Millonarios of Bogota in his native country. He has been in MLS before as a strength & conditioning coach for the old MetroStars. He then went to Manchester City with the same job.
-Ives Galarcep on his Soccer By Ives blog, talked to Osorio last night.
-Luis Arroyave on his Red Card blog with a few more tidbits of the deal.
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Simon Kuper of the Financial Times looks at Beckham's chances of really cracking mainstream America.
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CNN Money looks at Beckham's potential commercial impact.
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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America tries to sort out who the other 7 players should be on the MLS All Star Team.
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For the second month in a row New York forward Juan Pablo Angel has been named MLS Player Of The Month.
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Steve Davis at MLSnet does a wrap up of the MLS games from this mid-week.
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Ian Plenderleith of the US Soccer Players Assoc looks at the two soft PK's given to LA's Kyle Martino on Wednesday and wonders if this kind of behavior (Martino taking possible dives in the box) is really what we want to reward.
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Mike Biglin of the Metro West Daily News with an article on New England's first year defensive midfielder Gary Flood, who has tried to fill in when Shalrie Joseph has been out injured.
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LA Soccer News has a Q & A with New England keeper Matt Reis.
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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch asks if the Crew can be a playoff team.
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Then Mitchell gives a midseason report card on the Crew. In this article he even mentions that there is a possibility that the Crew could GET A NEW STADIUM! Huh? What is that all about?
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Columbus Alive has a Q & A with hometown boy Danny O'Rourke.
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Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News with an article on FC Dallas's All Star Juan Toja.
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The Toronto Globe & Mail with an article on TFC's goalkeeper mess. They have starter Greg Sutton out injured, a backup they don't trust at all, and a third keeper who came in and played magnificently last week now injured as well. A pickle if there ever was one.
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USL First Division matches & scores this weekend:
-Fri Jul 6
Rochester v Carolina - Live on FSC at 7pm central.
-Sat Jul 7
Charleston v Puerto Rico
Atlanta v Vancouver
California v Portland
-Sun Jul 8
Montreal v Carolina
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USL 1D Standings:
27 Vancouver
25 Seattle
24 Rochester
23 Montreal
21 Portland
19 Charleston
19 Atlanta
18 Carolina
17 Miami
15 Puerto Rico
11 Minnesota
11 California
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Jesse Erdmann at Blue Sky Soccer with this week's USL First Division Power Rankings.
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American Greg Dalby is on the verge of signing to play for Preston North End in England's Championship Division. He is awaiting word on a work permit.
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The U20 World Cup - USA group stage games are:
(All games live on ESPNU)
-USA 1-1 South Korea
-USA 6-1 Poland
-Fri Jul 6 v Brazil - 6:30pm central at Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa - also live on ESPN.
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I have no idea if the USA can play at the level they did against Poland on a consistent level, but it would be nice to see them not lay an egg again like they did against South Korea.
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Game preview from US Soccer.
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Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail states the fact that the USA's Group D is the Group of Death.
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Soccernet calls Michael Bradley the backbone of the USA team.
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Andrea Canales of LA Soccer News examines the quality of the USA squad.
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Canales also talks to Quavas Kirk who was left off this USA team, about their chances. And few words on who to watch out for from Brazil.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times with notes on the USA for tonight's game.
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USA U20 team blog.
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FIFA U20 World Cup details.
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Canada lost again at the U20WC, this time to Austria 1-0. They have not officially been eliminated yet, but their odds of survival to the next round are remote.
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Chile & Mexico have now both qualified for the next round joining Japan & Nigeria.
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The Asian Cup kicks off on Saturday. Here is the first day of matches:
Jul 7
Thailand v Iraq
Australia v Oman
Vietnam v UAE
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with S Korea's Dutch coach Jo Bonfrere on the eve of the Asian Cup.
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Sven Goren Eriksson has officially become the manager at Manchester City.
-This means that former Thailand Premier Thaksin Shinawatra has bought the club.
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The most famous referee of the modern game, Pierluigi Collina, and hairless dude, has been put in charge of all referees in Italy. Will this help? Who knows? I suppose it will depend on how much money the clubs offer in bribes.

The Valley Was Gorgeous News

The USA has been eliminated from the Copa America by not finishing top 2 in their group and cannot finish as one of the top 2 third place teams.

~and~

Eric Wynalda has a signed a contract to play the remainder of the season for the Bakersfield Brigade in the PDL!

~and~

The MLS All Star starting 11 have been announced for next weeks game v Celtic (July 19). They are: Eddie Johnson, Juan Pablo Angel, Jimmy Conrad, Jonathan Bornstein, Michael Parkhurst, Matt Reis, Shalrie Joseph, Ricardo Clark, Dwayne De Rosario, Christian Gomez & Juan Toja. That is a great first team. New England coach Steve Nicol will manage the squad.


Un Copa America:

Tonight is the USA's last game at this Copa. They take on Colombia at 5:30pm central time.
-You should expect to see Brad Guzan take to the goal mouth protector position.
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There is a brand new exclusive audio interview with USA coach Bradley from US Soccer.
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Brand new video from Studio 90 - click on July 5, 2007. Features an interview with some USA fans down in Venezuela including my friend and neighbor Andy! YES!
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Team USA blog.
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For all of you out there who like to see the USA players barechested, US Soccer has photos of the team in the pool.
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There is also official team video from after the Paraguay match.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet previews tonight's last dance.
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Grant Wahl at Sports Illustrated answers reader mail about Team USA. Wahl also makes a very lame attempt to brown nose ME! Hahahahaha. Really though, I owe Grant a lot for championing this blog! Thank you, man.
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Drew Moor with the USA team in Venezuela checks in for a third time with FC Dallas Updates during the Copa America trip. He got his first cap against Paraguay too.
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Ken Pendleton at the US Soccer Players Assoc embraces the young guys of Team USA and the idea of taking them to Venezuela. (Me too.)
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Looks like Soccernet is getting more into the podcast thing, which is great, and they have an interview with USA & Watford defender Jay DeMerit. Listen or download here.
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More strife in the Mexico camp as goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa (who I think is pretty fantastic) and coach Hugo Sanchez go at it over playing time - lack there of. But at least they are advancing to the next round.
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Luis Bueno has a pretty solid rumor on his Sideline Views blog that Mexican left winger Andres Guardado is about to move from Atlas to PSV. Great move.
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Is this a father-son team, or a mother-daughter team?
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Group stage match schedule - all matches shown live on GolTV & TeleFutura:
Tue Jun 26
-Uruguay 0-3 Peru
-Venezuela 2-2 Bolivia
Wed Jun 27
-Ecuador 2-3 Chile
-Brazil 0-2 Mexico
Thu Jun 28
-Paraguay 5-0 Colombia
-Argentina 4-1 USA
Sat Jun 30
-Bolivia 0-1 Uruguay
-Venezuela 2-0 Peru
Sun Jul 1
-Brazil 3-0 Chile
-Mexico 2-1 Ecuador
Mon Jul 2
-USA 1-3 Paraguay
-Argentina 4-2 Colombia
Tue Jul 3
-Peru 2-2 Bolivia
-Venezuela 0-0 Uruguay
Wed Jul 4
-Mexico 0-0 Chile
-Brazil 1-0 Ecuador
Thu Jul 5
-Colombia v USA
-Argentina v Paraguay
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Group Standings:
A - 3 played
5 Venezuela - ADVANCE
4 Peru - ADVANCE
4 Uruguay - ADVANCE
2 Bolivia - OUT
B - 3 played
7 Mexico - ADVANCE
6 Brazil - ADVANCE
4 Chile - ADVANCE
0 Ecuador - OUT
C - 2 played
6 Paraguay - ADVANCE
6 Argentina - ADVANCE
0 USA - OUT
0 Colombia - OUT
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This week's MLS games:
-Wed Jul 4
KC 0-1 DC - DC goal by Luciano Emilio.
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report by Pete Gratoff of the KC Star.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Post game notes, quotes and player ratings from Goff on his Soccer Insider blog.
Post-game notes from the KC Star.
Dallas 2-0 Chivas - Dal goals by Ramon Nunez & Birdman Oduro.
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report by Tobias "ToLo" Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match report by Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News.
Colorado 0-0 Columbus
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report from the Rocky Mountain News.
Match report by John Meyer of the Denver Post.
Post-game wrap up from the Columbus Dispatch
Salt Lake 1-2 Toronto - RSL goal by Alecko Eskandarian(PK). Tor goals by Jeff Cunningham & Collin Samuel(PK).
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report by James Edwards of the Deseret Morning News.
Match report Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Post-game notes by Edwards.
LA 2-0 Chicago - LA goals both by Landon Donovan(2 PK's).
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report by Billy Witz of the LA Daily News.
Match report from the LA Times.
-Thu Jul 5
Houston v New York - 7 central on ESPN2
-Sat Jul 7
Columbus v Salt Lake - 6:30 central on Direct Kick
New England v Chivas - 6:30 central on HDNet & Direct Kick
Chicago v Toronto - 7:30 central on FSC & FSE
LA v KC - 9:30 central on Direct Kick
-Sun Jul 8
Columbus v New York - 7:00 central on Direct Kick
Houston v DC - 7:30 central on Direct Kick
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A couple of my notes from Wednesday's MLS games:
-Colorado midfielder Daniel Wasson cut his hair into a mohawk and bleached it white. Then he colored the right side of his head red, and the left side blue. Red, White and Blue for Independence day. Sadly it didn't look very good.
-Jeff Cunningham of Toronto now has 96 career goals.
-The Chicago TV announcers felt that LA midfielder Kyle Martino took a dive on both of the PK calls he got.
-Chicago had NO shots on goal! NONE!
-I love the Birdman.
-Luciano Emilio has scored in 5 straight games.
-Carlos Pavon looked pretty good in his LA debut. He is one strong dude.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chroncile reports that Dynamo midfielder Brad Davis has torn meniscus in this right knee that is going to require surgery. It is unknown how long he will be out. And a preview of tonight's game.
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Dylan Butler at Big Apple Soccer talks to Red Bulls defender Hunter Freeman who is finally back on the pitch after 2 months out injured.
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Beau Dure of USA Today with an article on everyone's favorite whipping boy, Clint Mathis.
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Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet with a preview of tonight's Houston v New York match.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with an article on the man that Fire fans can't stand - team president John Guppy.
-Arroyave also talks to one of the potential new owners, former player Frank Klopas. From his Red Card blog.
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The Chapel Hill News with a very good article on soon to retire All-American defender Eddie Pope of Real Salt Lake.
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The LA Daily News with an article on the Galaxy's roster Merry-Go-Round.
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LA has lost defensive midfielder Kevin Harmse for at least a month with a knee sprain.
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The Orange County Register was a story on the trade by LA of Nate Jaqua to Houston for Kelly Gray.
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DC United are planning a tribute match for former midfield star Marco Etcheverry. The game will be played on October 20th in conjunction with a DC league match.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post with an article on new DC defender Greg Vanney.
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Pete Gratoff of the KC Star with an article on the Wizards Argentine midfielder Carlos Marinelli. (Story is 2 days old.)
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Mike Biglin of the Metro West Daily News looks at the New England stumble at Chivas last week, and how they are gonna get it rolling again.
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Columbus Alive with a midseason review of the Columbus Crew.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times looks at the never ending MLS conflict of club v country.
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Bell also has a story on the Times Goal blog about Frankie Hejduk.
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Ryan Nelson has signed a new 5 year deal with Blackburn. He was at one time the captain of DC United.
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USL First Division matches & scores this weekend:
-Tue Jul 3
Rochester 0-1 Seattle
Carolina 0-0 Vancouver
-Wed Jul 4
Atlanta 3-2 Charleston
California 1-3 Miami
-Fri Jul 6
Rochester v Carolina - Live on FSC at 7pm central.
-Sat Jul 7
Charleston v Puerto Rico
Atlanta v Vancouver
California v Portland
-Sun Jul 8
Montreal v Carolina
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USL 1D Standings:
27 Vancouver
25 Seattle
24 Rochester
23 Montreal
21 Portland
19 Charleston
19 Atlanta
18 Carolina
17 Miami
15 Puerto Rico
11 Minnesota
11 California
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The Minnesota Thunder player an exhibition this weekend v The Sons Of Italy (whoever the hell they are) on Saturday July 7 in Burnsville.
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Tony Edwards at the US Soccer Players Assoc takes a look at recent TV viewing numbers and what the growth of it all really means for soccer in America.
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The U20 World Cup - USA group stage games are:
(All games live on ESPNU)
-USA 1-1 South Korea
-USA 6-1 Poland - Pol goal by ?. USA goals by Freddy Adu(3), Danny Szetela(2) & Jozy Altidore.
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report from Soccernet.
Match report and post game quotes from Top Drawer Soccer.
-Fri Jul 6 v Brazil - 6:30pm central at Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My notes on the USA-Pol game:
After being out hustled and out smarted by South Korea in their first group stage game at the U20 World Cup, the USA came out last night v Poland and proceeded to give up a lazy goal in the 4th minute. But that turned out to be their only misstep as they fired up some serious jets to comprehensively destroy the Poles 6-1! Freddy Adu played the best game of his life and scored a hat-trick. His first two goals were masterpiece strikes. The whole team rolled with confidence. It was what we expected from this team. They now take on Brazil (who beat South Korea 3-2 last night) in the final group stage game on Friday at 3:45 central time in Ottawa. The USA lead the group with 4 points, Poland with 3, Brazil with 3 & S Korea with 1.
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Adam Spangler at This Is American Soccer has a link to video of all the goals from the USA v Poland game.
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USA U20 team blog.
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The Toronto Star with an article on little known Canadian goal scoring machine Tosaint Ricketts. He plays at UW-Green Bay of all places.
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Japan & Nigeria have become the first two teams to advance to the knock out stages.
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FIFA U20 World Cup details.
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In a big surprise Manchester United have become the leading team trying to sign Carlos Tevez from West Ham.
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The Asian Cup kicks off on Saturday. Here is the first day of matches:
Jul 7
-Thailand v Iraq
-Australia v Oman
-Vietnam v UAE
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The Telegraph of London says that Colorado Rapids owner Stan Kroenke is still hunting after Arsenal.
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FIFA.com interviews long long long time Sweden coach Lars Lagerback.
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Lastly, more great stuff from Steven Wells at the Guardian. This time he looks at American's indifference to international competitions. Excellent article.

Independence Day

No news today.
Holiday.
Feet up.
Cool beverage in hand.
See ya tomorrow.

Travel So High News

Il Copa America:

USA 1-3 Paraguay - USA goal by Ricardo Clark. Para goals by Edgar Barreto, Oscar Cardozo & Salvador Cabanas.
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Match report from American Soccer News.
Match report and player ratings by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Post-game analysis by Bill Urban of the US Soccer Players Assoc.
Post-game notes by Jen Chang of Soccernet.
Post-game quote sheet from US Soccer.
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du Nord Three Stars Of The Game
3. Aldo Bobadilla - When the backup keeper comes in it can be a nightmare for a team - he is cold, he is out of synch, the defenders panic, etc. But he held the line against the USA onslaught and made some key saves. No GREAT saves per se, but the fact the back up came in and held the fort is fantastic.
2. Drew Moor - First game wearing the USA shirt and although he did not have to do a lot of defending he helped out when needed and was error free doing it. His big contribution was to the offense. He sent in at least a half dozen really good crosses for his teammates to use. Unfortunately they only made the most of it once.
1. Ricardo Clark - The power on his two big shots on goal was fantastic. One found net, the other forced the save of the game. He regained that forward moving confidence that was gone against Argentina too.
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Official USA v Paraguay game photos.
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Official Team USA blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My notes from the game:
-I think it's fairly safe to say that our boys threw that game away. They had it. Right there. Palm of the hand type stuff. It's not so much they choked, as they just said, "Here, you have it" to Paraguay. Sad.
-But at least they attacked all out for 90 minutes. You gotta like that.
-Actually it was more like 80 minutes, which is really worrisome. Several games now, Panama, Canada, Argentina & Paraguay, where the team as a whole has seemed to run out of gas and lost concentration giving up goals and control of a game late. Not a good sign at all. Does this mean they are not in good enough condition physically?
-Eddie Johnson has so many physical tools to work with, I just wish he had more killer instinct and outward desire. He has the wrong kind of ego. His is vain not energy.
-Bornstein's back pass that was intercepted and turned into a goal was inexcusable.
-17 new players have gotten caps under Bradley this year.
-Both Bornstein & Feilhaber got their 10th cap in their debut year making them the first USA players to do that since Claudio Reyna back in the 60's.
-There is more and more talk that Kasey Keller may retire in the next month.
-Again I am surprised to find myself not upset by the loss.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

George Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News on the FC Rocky Blog looks at the two USA results from the vantage point of Colorado players on the roster - Kyle Beckerman & Herculez Gomez.
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Andrea Canales of LA Soccer News with an overview of the USA so far at Copa America.
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Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle has a Mexico-USA Copa America comparison on his blog.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times gives us a preview of Colombia. He looks the influence of Libertadores semifinalist club Cucuta Deportivo has on the national side.
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Marcela Mora y Araujo of the Guardian looks at Argentina's start to La Copa.
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Argentine forward Hernan Crespo could miss the rest of the tournament with a muscle strain in his thigh. In a purely selfish way I ask, "Why couldn't this of happened BEFORE he scored 2 against the USA?"
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Group stage match schedule - all matches shown live on GolTV & TeleFutura:
Tue Jun 26
-Uruguay 0-3 Peru
-Venezuela 2-2 Bolivia
Wed Jun 27
-Ecuador 2-3 Chile
-Brazil 0-2 Mexico
Thu Jun 28
-Paraguay 5-0 Colombia
-Argentina 4-1 USA
Sat Jun 30
-Bolivia 0-1 Uruguay
-Venezuela 2-0 Peru
Sun Jul 1
-Brazil 3-0 Chile
-Mexico 2-1 Ecuador
Mon Jul 2
-USA 1-3 Paraguay
-Argentina 4-2 Colombia
Tue Jul 3
-Peru v Bolivia
-Venezuela v Uruguay
Wed Jul 4
-Mexico v Chile
-Brazil v Ecuador
Thu Jul 5
-Colombia v USA
-Argentina v Paraguay
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mid-Week MLS games:
-Wed Jul 4
KC v DC - 12 noon central on Direct Kick
Dallas v Chivas - 5:30 central on HD Net & Direct Kick
Colorado v Columbus - 8:30 central on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v Toronto - 9 central on Direct Kick
LA v Chicago - 9:30 central on Direct Kick
-Thu Jul 5
Houston v New York - 7 central on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Firchau of Chicago's Daily Southtown with more background on the potential new owners for the Chicago Fire.
-And Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with some other info on the situation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LA has shipped out another player, this time it's forward Nate Jaqua going to Houston for defender/midfielder Kelly Gray. Don't mean much to me.
-Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with more on the story, and other Houston Dynamo notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nicholas Addlery, forward for DC United, has been named MLS Player Of The Week. He didn't even start the game v Colorado last Thursday. Guy Kpene started the match but pulled up lame in the 12th minute. So Addlery came on and tore it up.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pablo Mastroeni will miss at least Colorado's game on Wednesday with a groin strain.
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Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer talks to Red Bulls midfielder Claudio Reyna about his teams recent slump.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger with an article on NYRB's new acquisition - Santino Quaranta.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald writes about Matt Kassel who is likely to be the first player from an MLS youth development program to graduate to the senior side, for the New York Red Bulls.
-Galarcep has more details on the good and bad aspects of the official MLS youth development policies on his blog.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe on the outstanding play of rookie forward Adam Cristman for New England.
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Pete Gratoff of the KC Star with an article on Kansas City's Matt Groenwald who is out for the season due to a rare blood disease. The article also talks about an unrelated serious illness his mother is dealing with right now too.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog recounts a hilariously brutal interview he tried to do with Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng at the Fire game last Sunday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Edwards of the Deseret Morning News with an article on Salt Lake defender Ritchie Kotschau and his return to the league after a broken leg.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Green of the LA Daily News with an article on the hair antics of Galaxy players Beckham & Xavier.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer America's Soccer Business Insider looks at the Beckham impact on MLS finances.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer 365 has an interview with Wilmer Cabrera who is in charge of outreach & discovering Latin American talent for MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Philadelphia Weekly looks at what it will take to bring MLS to their city.
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USL First Division matches & scores this weekend:
Tue Jul 3
Rochester v Seattle
Carolina v Vancouver
Wed Jul 4
Atlanta v Charleston
California v Miami
Fri Jul 6
Rochester v Carolina
Sat Jul 7
Charleston v Puerto Rico
Atlanta v Vancouver
California v Portland
Sun Jul 8
Montreal v Carolina
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer 365 with a story on Fulham's American striker Brian McBride and his feelings on the upcoming Premiership season. Training for many teams begins next week already!
-The article also mentions that "McBride is currently in Hong Kong to play for a FIFA World Select XI against China in an event to mark the 10th anniversary of the former British colony's reunification with the country."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The U20 World Cup - USA group stage games are:
(All games live on ESPNU)
USA 1-1 South Korea
Tue Jul 3 v Poland - 3:45pm central at Olympic Stadium in Montreal
Fri Jul 6 v Brazil - 6:30pm central at Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccernet with a preview of USA v Poland today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales of LA Soccer News looks at two of the USA strikers who did not see action in match 1 - Gabe Ferrari & Preston Zimmerman.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno at the Press Enterprise checks in with Freddy Adu on the U20WC.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC Dallas Updates with an email on the USA team from their player Dax McCarty.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA's U20 World Cup details.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sports Illustrated with an article on one of Mexico's young hopefuls - Carlos Vela. He led them to the U17 World Cup Championship, and plans to do the same with the U20's.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Toronto Star looks at what the U20 World Cup is doing for the city of Toronto.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fabled club Al Ahli beat Zamalek 4-3 in extra time to win the Egypt Cup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A funny/mean article from the Times of London on fans running into famous soccer players out in the general public.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I really like in those David Beckham - Reggie Bush - Adidas commercials where Beckham says "Am I being punked?" Later Bush says, "I got a new found respect for soccer now. You guys make it look real easy."

Famous Greek Paintings News

Los Copa America:

Tonight it's USA v Paraguay - kicks off at 5:30 central time on GolTV & TeleFutura. Plus people tell me its streaming online via Univision too!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lots of pre-game notes from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Audio & video from US Soccer:
-Behind the scenes video from the loss to Argentina.
-Audio of interview with Jonathan Bornstein.
-Audio of Copa Part II with the comedy duo of Benny & Sacha.
-Video from Studio 90 July 2,2007 - starring Jimmy Conrad.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer also has photos from training this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Official Team USA blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC Dallas defender Drew Moor who is on the USA Copa team checks in from Venezuela via FC Dallas Updates.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle examines the pain that can be suffered in a pounding loss like the one suffered by the USA at the hands of Argentina.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at Soccernet says USA coach Bob Bradley needs to be careful with his young players so that they aren't mentally destroyed by the Copa America.

(I guess the Davis twins agree telepathically on this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet previews Paraguay for tonight's game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New York Times with a blog covering Copa America and other soccer matters - Goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at how the Copa is going down in Venezuela.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Venezuela's win Saturday was their first in the Copa America in 40 years - that run was 43 matches long.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated says Mexico is playing much better in Copa America than they did in the Gold Cup. But they still have some glaring shortcomings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group stage match schedule - all matches shown live on GolTV and TeleFutura/Univision:
Tue Jun 26
-Uruguay 0-3 Peru
-Venezuela 2-2 Bolivia
Wed Jun 27
-Ecuador 2-3 Chile
-Brazil 0-2 Mexico
Thu Jun 28
-Paraguay 5-0 Colombia
-Argentina 4-1 USA
Sat Jun 30
-Bolivia 0-1 Uruguay
-Venezuela 2-0 Peru
Sun Jul 1
-Brazil 3-0 Chile
-Mexico 2-1 Ecuador
Mon Jul 2
-USA v Paraguay
-Argentina v Colombia
Tue Jul 3
-Peru v Bolivia
-Venezuela v Uruguay
Wed Jul 4
-Mexico v Chile
-Brazil v Ecuador
Thu Jul 5
-Colombia v USA
-Argentina v Paraguay
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS matches & scores this week:
-Dallas 0-0 Houston
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Match report by Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News.
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
-Columbus 1-0 New York - Goal by Kei Kamara.
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
-Chivas 2-0 New England - Goals by Jesse Marsch & Maykel Galindo. Chiv Red Card to Claudio Suarez for violent conduct.
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report from the Boston Herald.
Match report from the Daily Breeze.
Match report from the LA Times.
-Chicago 0-0 Colorado - Chic Red Card to Bakary Soumare for violent conduct.
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report by Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun Times.
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Post-game notes from Arroyave on his Red Card blog.
Post-game notes by George Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News on his FC Rocky blog.
-Kansas City 1-1 Toronto - KC goal by Michael Harrington. TO goal by Danny Dichio. TO Red Card to Andrew Boyens for 2 yellows.
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report from the Kansas City Star.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Quite a bit of MLS player news the past few days:
-Chivas USA released forward Matt Taylor. I have been told by many people that Matt is a great guy, but he can't hit the broadside of a barn with his shot. Chivas have a specific player in mind to replace him on the roster, but no word yet on who that might be, but the rumor is two defenders Guatemalan Freddy Thompson and/or El Salvadoran Dennis Alas.
-Santino Quaranta did not end up in KC as first rumored. Instead LA dealt him to New York.
-I may have forgotten this one last week, but LA also released midfielder Ian Russell.
-Chicago signed Brazilian right midfielder Bruno Marques Menezes from minor league team Sao Carlos. He has been training with the team for a while.
-Real Salt Lake have hired former MLS defender Robin Fraser as an assistant coach.
-DC has released young midfielder Kasali Yinka Casal. He came to them from the Fulham academy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Golden Boot Chase:
9 Juan Pablo Angel
9 Eddie Johnson
7 Taylor Twellman
6 Maykel Galindo
6 Luciano Emilio
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chicago's Daily Southtown asks a very important question; Are the Chicago Fire for sale?
-Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog has more info on who the potential buyers might be.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times of London with a feature story on LA & USA star Landon Donovan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales of LA Soccer News talks to Chivas USA defender Claudio Suarez about his red card and the teams strong win over New England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LASN has a Q & A with former USA defender and current New England Technical Director Mike Burns. He looks back at Copa America 1995.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram wants to see Mexican superstar Jared Borgetti in a FC Dallas shirt. Pronto.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pete Gratoff of the KC Star with an article on Kansas City rookie center back Aaron Hohlbein who has played plenty of games due to injury and national team call ups.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dallas will take on Mexican team UANL Tigres in the second annual Rio Grande Plate. The away leg takes place on July 7 in Monterrey. The home leg is set for Wed Jul 11 in Frisco.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Arizona Republic with the latest news on a potential MLS team in the Phoenix area.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer New England brings us July Madness. Could there be a couple more games in a couple more competitions? I doubt it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Week of MLS games ahead:
-Wed Jul 4
KC v DC - 12 noon central on Direct Kick
Dallas v Chivas - 5:30 central on HD Net & Direct Kick
Colorado v Columbus - 8:30 central on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v Toronto - 9 central on Direct Kick
LA v Chicago - 9:30 central on Direct Kick
-Thu Jul 5
Houston v New York - 7 central on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division matches & scores this weekend:
Thu Jun 28
California 0-1 Portland
Seattle 1-0 Miami
Fri Jun 29
Montreal 1-0 Puerto Rico
Rochester 0-2 Atlanta
Sat Jun 30
Charleston 1-1 Vancouver
Portland 1-0 Miami
Sun Jul 1
Montreal 0-2 California
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL 1D Standings:
26 Vancouver
24 Rochester
23 Montreal
22 Seattle
21 Portland
19 Charleston
17 Carolina
16 Atlanta
15 Puerto Rico
14 Miami
11 Minnesota
11 California
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with a story on the pressure put on youngsters like Freddy Adu & Michelle Wie.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The U20 World Cup kicks off this weekend - the group stage games are:
(All games live on ESPNU)
USA 1-1 South Korea - USA goal by Danny Szetela. Kor goal by Young Rok Shin.
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report and player ratings from Soccernet.
Match report by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Post-game quotes from USA coaches & players.
Post game notes by Jen Chang at Soccernet.
Post-game video from US Soccer
Game photos from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Other 2 USA group stage matches:
-Tue Jul 3 v Poland - 3:45pm central at Olympic Stadium in Montreal
-Fri Jul 6 v Brazil - 6:30pm central at Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ryan Hunt of Sports Illustrated with a look at USA & Red Bulls forward Jozy Altidore.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stephen Brunt at the Toronto Globe & Mail writes about the fans & atmosphere at the U20 World Cup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A lameass reporter for the Toronto Sun bitches & moans about how tough it is covering the event. Shut up!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA U20 World Cup details.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccernet brings us Part 2 of USA & Watford defender Jay DeMerit's road trip story.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Croatia's star striker Eduardo da Silva has been snapped up by Arsenal from Dinamo Zagreb.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Real Madrid claim they are about to sign Chelsea midfielder Arjen Robben for 20 million Euros.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Liverpeople are going to send Luis Garcia to Atletico Madrid as part of a deal to acquire Fernando Torres.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with a list of all the Premiership players for available for free right now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with young Argentine striker Sergio "Kun" Aguero.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For some bizarre reason the Observer seems to think that Chelsea's signing of striker Claudio Pizzaro on a free transfer from Bayern Munich was a master stroke.

Tres Wolfian Diet News

Diego Maradona is staying at the same hotel as Team USA. I bet that makes Diego's buddy Hugo a little anxious.


La Copa America:

USA 1-4 Argentina USA goals by Eddie Johnson. Arg goals by Hernan Crespo(2), Pablo Aimar & Carlos Tevez.
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Match report from Yanks Abroad.
Match report and player ratings by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Post-game quote sheet from US Soccer.
Player ratings by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Post-game analysis by Jen Chang of Soccernet.
Post-game notes by Bernardo Fallas on his Soccer y Futbol blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My thoughts on USA v Argentina:
-The ass kicking that most had predicted was handed out last night. Argentina 4-1 USA. Nothing too surprising. They brought the big guns, we brought a couple of cap pistols. Oof.
-It's odd how I don't find myself too upset about this game, and feel like it means nothing in the big picture.
-Coach Bob Bradley lost for the first time in his 12th game in charge of the USA. His record is now 10-1-1.
-This loss shows again why Team USA needs to play A LOT MORE games out side the cozy confines of the United States.
-Argentina's three subs - Aimar, Tevez & Gago are probably all better than any one the USA has ever produced.
-Ben Olsen was the team last night. The game was over the second he left the field. Many people have been writing that he was tired. But the way he sprinted off the field he didn't look like a tired guy to me.
-It only took 3 minutes for Arg to exploit Olsen's absence and torch the USA for the game winner.
-I am wondering if Kasey Keller is actually 100% healthy. He seems really slow and I would bet that the hip injury that knocked him out of Gladbach is still bothering him.
-The first Arg goal was quite brilliant - all the US players expected a strike on goal from the free kick and pushed up as high as they could, so Riquelme just chipped it over everyone and let it drop into the mess in front of Keller. The Crespo did what he always does. Buries it.
-During the game I could not figure out who the USA captain was. Then I woke up this morning and said to myself, "It must have been Kasey Keller." I just checked and he was.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

du Nord Three Stars of the Game
3. Hernan Crespo - The greatest goal poacher in the world bagged two more.
2. Juan Roman Riquelme – People always pick on this dude and claim he is slow and doing nothing on the field. Well last night all he did was set up 3 of Argentina's 4 goals.
1. Ben Olsen - The only guy from the USA to give it his all and have his all amount to something strong. 1-1 with Captain Caveman on the field, but when he came off the USA got plundered.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Official Team USA blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Game photos from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New York Times with a blog covering Copa America - Goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group stage match schedule - all matches shown live on GolTV:
Tue Jun 26
-Uruguay 0-3 Peru
-Venezuela 2-2 Bolivia
Wed Jun 27
-Ecuador 2-3 Chile
-Brazil 0-2 Mexico
Thu Jun 28
-Paraguay 5-0 Colombia
-Argentina 4-1 USA
Sat Jun 30
-Bolivia v Uruguay
-Venezuela v Peru
Sun Jul 1
-Brazil v Chile
-Mexico V Ecuador
Mon Jul 2
-USA v Paraguay
-Argentina v Colombia
Tue Jul 3
-Peru v Bolivia
-Venezuela v Uruguay
Wed Jul 4
-Mexico v Chile
-Brazil v Ecuador
Thu Jul 5
-Colombia v USA
-Argentina v Paraguay
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccernet with a story on the miserable start to Copa America for Brazil.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The anti-Chavez people of Venezuela are being heard. From the AP.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS matches & scores this week:
Thu Jun 28
-DC 4-1 Colorado - DC goals by Christian Gomez, Nicholas Addlery, Fred & Luciano Emilio. Colo goal by Jacob Peterson.
Match report from MLSnet.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Sat Jun 30
-Dallas v Houston - 5pm central on FSC
-Columbus v New York - 7pm central on HDNet & Direct Kick
-Chivas v New England - 9:30pm central on Direct Kick
Sun Jul 1
-Chicago v Colorado - 6pm central on Direct Kick
-Kansas City v Toronto - 7pm central on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff on his Soccer Insider blog is reporting that DC & Colorado are swapping defenders with Facundo Erpen heading to Denver and Greg Vanney going to the Capital city.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Connolly of the Boston Herald talks to New England's Steve Ralston & Michael Parkhurst who have just returned from the Gold Cup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Buzz Carrick at 3rd Degree with his weekly practice session commentary on FC Dallas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dylan Butler of Big Apple Soccer on the Red Bulls acquisition of left back Kevin Goldthwaite.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch says you can take Crew assistant coach Robert Warczyka off the list of potential disgruntled Eastern Division assistant coach that Soccer America reported on early this week. du Nord made a list of all of them to try and figure out who it might be. Here is Hunter's findings: Soccer America reports there is an assistant coach in MLS' Eastern Conference who is unhappy, which is like saying there is a player on the Indians who would like to play more. After all, there are only seven teams in the conference. So when Crew assistant Robert Warzycha was asked whether he was the disgruntled one, he had a good laugh. "No, it's not me," he said. "(Crew coach) Sigi (Schmid) asked me the same thing."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Adam Spangler at This Is American Soccer does a Q & A with Steven Goff of the Washington Post. Goff is the best soccer regular writer we have today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division matches & scores this weekend:
Thu Jun 28
California 0-1 Portland
Seattle 1-0 Miami
Fri Jun 29
Montreal v Puerto Rico
Rochester v Atlanta - live at 7pm central on FSC
Sat Jun 30
Charleston v Vancouver
Portland v Miami
Sun Jul 1
Montreal v California
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL 1D Standings:
25 Vancouver
24 Rochester
22 Seattle
20 Montreal
19 Seattle
18 Portland
18 Charleston
17 Carolina
15 Puerto Rico
14 Miami
13 Atlanta
11 Minnesota
8 California
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jesse Erdmann at Blue Sky Soccer with this weeks USL First Division Power Rankings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American defender Jay DeMerit of Watford posts Part 1 of a road trip story on Soccernet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The U20 World Cup kicks off this weekend - the group stage games are:
(All games live on ESPNU)
-Sat Jun 30 v South Korea - 3:45pm central at Olympic Stadium in Montreal
-Tue Jul 3 v Poland - 3:45pm central at Olympic Stadium in Montreal
-Fri Jul 6 v Brazil - 6:30pm central at Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Edwards at the Deseret Morning News says it's now time for Freddy Adu to make his mark.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com with an article on USA midfielder Michael Bradley.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA U20 World Cup details.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times of London with a story on new Fulham coach Lawrie Sanchez and his rebuilding of the team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It looks like the Liverpeople have paid an extraordinary amount to sign Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres. I have a bad feeling about this deal.

Gold & Golder Shades Of Gold News

One of du Nord's favorite soccer writers is Andrea Canales. She had what sounds like an awful run in with a player last weekend. Marcos Gonzalez of Columbus was the culprit. Gonzalez later spoke to the Columbus Dispatch about what happened. I just want to go on record fully supporting Canales and hoping women get more and more chances to shine in sports and journalism, cuz it helps us all. And if I ever come across Gonzalez I will make sure to let him know I think he was out of line.


Ze Copa America:

It's been all action so far. Not a single dull game of the four. And Mexico beating Brazil, what can you say. The two Mexi goals were stunning. But we will always wonder how the game would have turned out if the Brazilian goal in the 7th minute had counted instead of wrongly being called offside. We will never know. Sometimes you gotta be good AND lucky to win. And also, Brazil were terrible. Just terrible.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated on Mexico's "tremendous" victory.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In his press conference on Tuesday USA coach Bob Bradley was asked who would be playing at right back against Argentina and he basically said it would be one of the two right backs on the roster - Marvell Wynne or Drew Moor. One of them is in for a serious debut tonight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Game preview from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

More official photos from US Soccer in Venezuela.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And a new video at Studio 90 from today (click on June 28).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones of the LA Times talks to USA keeper Kasey Keller about where he is headed next in his club career. I have a feeling Keller is gonna have to stand on his head and give a Brazil 97 performance to the USA tonight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The official FC Dallas blog has an email from their defender Drew Moor down in Argentina.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa at Soccernet previews USA v Argentina - which goes down tonight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with a story on Chicago & USA midfielder Justin Mapp.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pete Gratoff of the KC Star with a story on Kansas City & USA defender Jimmy Conrad.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The LA Soccer News does a Q & A with Colorado & USA striker Herculez Gomez about the Copa.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno at LASN talks to Landon Donovan about how he thinks the USA will handle Copa America.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bueno also talks to the 3 Chivas USA players on the USA Copa roster - Brad Guzan, Sacha Kljesten & Jonathan Bornstein. From MLSnet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle previews Team USA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune with his Copa preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Former USA coach Bruce Arena tells the Sports Ticker that he is not down with the Copa America.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer has a podcast from players Sacha Kljesten & Benny Feilhaber, the clown princes of Team USA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Official Team USA blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New York Times with a blog covering Copa America - Goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group stage match schedule - all matches shown live on GolTV:
Tue Jun 26
-Uruguay 0-3 Peru
-Venezuela 2-2 Bolivia
Wed Jun 27
-Ecuador 2-3 Chile
-Brazil 0-2 Mexico
Thu Jun 28
-Paraguay v Colombia
-Argentina v USA
Sat Jun 30
-Bolivia v Uruguay
-Venezuela v Peru
Sun Jul 1
-Brazil v Chile
-Mexico V Ecuador
Mon Jul 2
-USA v Paraguay
-Argentina v Colombia
Tue Jul 3
-Peru v Bolivia
-Venezuela v Uruguay
Wed Jul 4
-Mexico v Chile
-Brazil v Ecuador
Thu Jul 5
-Colombia v USA
-Argentina v Paraguay
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS matches & scores this week:
Thu Jun 28
-DC v Colorado - 6pm central on ESPN2
Sat Jun 30
-Dallas v Houston - 5pm central on FSC
-Columbus v New York - 7pm central on HDNet & Direct Kick
-Chivas v New England - 9:30pm central on Direct Kick
Sun Jul 1
-Chicago v Colorado - 6pm central on Direct Kick
-Kansas City v Toronto - 7pm central on Direct Kick
-LA & Salt Lake are off this week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet previews tonight's DC v Colo match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beau Dure of USA Today with a couple of articles on the Colorado Rapids - ONE and TWO.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Rocky Mountain News previews the Rapids for tonight's game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post tries to figure out who is available to play for DCU tonight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Washington Times with a story on DCU forward Luciano Emilio and how he is settling into American life.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe says New England right midfielder Steve Ralston has returned to the club from the Gold Cup ready for action.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Massachusetts Republican with an article on New England defender Jay Heaps.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Salt Lake Tribune with a story on new RSL forward Robbie Findley who bagged 2 goals in his debut.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chicago has released French midfielder Pascal Bedrossian. He just never got on a roll.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA coach Bob Bradley will be inducted in to the Chicago Fire's honorary Ring Of Fire on Aug 4.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New York Red Bulls appear to be revamping a large part of their defense. That cannot be an easy one to pull off midseason. The traded away Todd Dunivant, and have released Taylor Graham & Tim Reagan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Those two Cubans who defected during the Gold Cup are in LA to try out with Chivas USA. From the Daily Breeze.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Edwards at the Deseret Morning News talks to Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis about the nature of trades.
-The paper also has a list of all 22 trades the team has pulled off since they started in the spring of 05.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Bradley at MLSnet uses his First XI column to reveal his votes for the MLS All Stars.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ryan Hunt at Sports Illustrated with his weekly MLS Free Kicks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff on his Soccer Insider blog says Agent Zero might train with DCU!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Remember a few months back when the sports business world got all excited that Dave Checketts company SCP was gonna buy GolTV. Not gonna happen. Deal over. Next.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Open Cup - 2nd Round scores:
-Harrisburg City Islanders 2-1 Ocean City Barons
-Rochester Raging Rhinos 2-1 Western Mass Pioneers
-Richmond Kickers 2-1 Cleveland City Stars
-Carolina RailHawks 4-0 Bavarian SC
-Atlanta Silverbacks 1-0 Charlotte Eagles
-Charleston Battery 1-0 El Paso Patriots
-Minnesota Thunder 0-1 California Victory
-Seattle Sounder 2-1 Portland Timbers
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sadly my Thunder was eliminated from the Open Cup, and was also the only home team to lose in this round. Just awful.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul Gardner at the New York Sun says the USA has to build on Bruce Arena's platform and the latest Gold Cup success.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer365 says more and more clubs are calling Benny Feilhaber's agent right now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scotland's Daily Record has some great quotes from our man DaMarcus Beasley as he lands at Rangers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The U20 World Cup kicks off this weekend - Here are the 3 USA group stage games:
(All games live on ESPNU)
Sat Jun 30 v South Korea - 3:45pm central at Olympic Stadium in Montreal
Tue Jul 3 v Poland - 3:45pm central at Olympic Stadium in Montreal
Fri Jul 6 v Brazil - 6:30pm central at Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA is expecting a sellout of 55,000 for Saturday's doubleheader in Montreal at Olympic Stadium featuring USA v South Korea & Brazil v Poland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-USA U20 team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA U20 World Cup details.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jen Chang at Soccernet with a list of 12 players to watch for.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dylan Butler at the Queens Times Ledger with a story on USA forward Gabriel Ferrari.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star with an article on Freddy Adu.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Rogers at Soccer365 has a Q & A with USA coach Thomas Rongen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Canadian Press with a story on Canada's young midfielder Will Johnson who they hope will drive the offense at the World Cup. He like Michael Bradley plays for Heerenveen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA has an interview with player Mexico hopes leads them to U20 glory, Giovani dos Santos.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Toronto Star has a special section full of U20 World Cup stories - 24 Teams, One Goal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico is going to play a friendly v Colombia on Wed Aug 22 in Denver at the Big Dick.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Barcelona defender Giovanni Van Bronckhorst and Bayern Munich forward Roy Makaay have left their clubs and signed with Feyenoord in their native Holland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You wanna know what kind of a soap opera factory they run at Real Madrid? After 4 years of winning nothing, they hire Fabio Capello who drags them up from the depths of embarrassment, and then they fire him cuz he won the league. There you go. They fired the last guy to win the Spanish league and the Champions League with them too, Del Bosque.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ex-Fulham coach and American lover Chris Cookie Coleman has landed himself a new gig. He is now the coach of recently relegated Spanish club Real Sociedad.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jamaica have finally won a game on their far east tour, beating Malaysia 0-2.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Benelux nations have thrown their hat into the ring for the 2018 World Cup, adding them to the now long list including the USA and England.