Now Is Not The Time News

The New York Red Bulls have also clinched a spot in the MLS playoffs. For some reason the league itself has not confirmed this, but take it from Dan at Metrofanatic, they are in.

~and~

Some real big surprises on this USA roster for the match next Wednesday in Switzerland:
-G:
Marcus Hahnemann (Reading FC)
Tally Hall (Esbjerg)
Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake)
-D:
Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham FC)
Steve Cherundolo (Hannover 96)
Dan Califf (Aalborg BK)
Jay Demerit (Watford FC)
Oguchi Onyewu (Standard de Liege)
Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock)
Steve Purdy (1860 Munich)
-M:
Freddy Adu (SL Benfica)
DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers)
Michael Bradley (SC Heerenveen)
Maurice Edu (Toronto FC)
Benny Feilhaber (Derby County) CORRECTED
Eddie Lewis (Derby County)
Danny Szetela (Racing Santander)
-F:
Clint Dempsey (Fulham FC)
Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)
Preston Zimmerman (Hamburger SV)
Sal Zizzo (Hannover 96)

~and~

FIFA is going to have goalmouth referees at the Club World Championship in Japan in December. From Reuters.


MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Oct 11
Dallas v Chivas - 8pm central on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe looks at the size of MLS team rosters, and says there should be more players on each team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch watches the Crew playoff hopes fade, again.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune was at a press conference today for Mexican team Cruz Azul who are in town to play Chicago on Wednesday night. Here are a few items from that, on the Red Card blog. And yes, Jared Borgetti confirms that he is still a complete moron.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Green at the Daily Breeze on the top notch talent of Landon Donovan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Billy Witz also of the Breeze with a look at LA's improbable run toward the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Our man Luis Bueno at the Press Enterprise sings the praises of Landon Donovan too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News says that a revived LA Galaxy is good for MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales of Soccer 365 says David B****** is having to learn about patience.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA Today with a story on the success of Blanco in Chicago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with his weekly Dynamo notes column.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Washington Post with more on DC United player Josh Gros's possible serious concussion problems.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Emlyn Lewis of Soccer New England calls the Revolution Jekyll & Hyde.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger on the Red Bull’s backing into the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Bradley at MLSnet give us the best games left this season - First XI: Big-Time MLS Games Remain.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com sorts out their view on how the MLS playoffs are gonna look.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Washington Post with the latest on political ugliness behind a possible DC United stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune remembers the 1987 San Diego State team that was on board a plane that had engine trouble and made an emergency landing. Eric Wynalda was one of the guys on that plane. (from last week)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Just a ton of International matches coming up in the next 2 weeks-
Matches & Scores:
AFC World Cup Qualifier
-Thu Oct 11
Cambodia v Turkmenistan
-Sat Oct 13
Uzbekistan v Chinese Taipei
-Sun Oct 14
Madagascar v Comoros
Macau v Thailand
-Wed Oct 17
Kyrgyzstan v Jordan

CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifier
-Sat Oct 13
Uruguay v Bolivia
Argentina v Chile
Ecuador v Venezuela
Peru v Paraguay
-Sun Oct 14
Colombia v Brazil
-Tue Oct 16
Venezuela v Argentina
-Wed Oct 17
Bolivia v Colombia
Paraguay v Uruguay
Brazil v Ecuador
Chile v Peru

African Nations Cup Qualifier
-Fri Oct 12
Togo v Mali
Sierra Leone v Benin
-Sat Oct 13
Mauritania v Burundi
Egypt v Botswana
Sierra Leone v Guinea-Bissau

Oceania World Cup Qualifier
-Sat Oct 13
New Zealand v Fiji
-Wed Oct 17
Fiji v New Zealand

Euro 2008 Qualifier
-Sat Oct 13
Poland v Kazakhstan
Belgium v Finland
Azerbaijan v Portugal
Armenia v Serbia
Italy v Georgia
Faroe Islands v France
Moldova v Turkey
Hungary v Malta
Slovakia v San Marino
Croatia v Israel
Iceland v Latvia
Slovenia v Albania
Romania v Netherlands
Scotland v Ukraine
England v Estonia
Belarus v Luxembourg
Liechtenstein v Sweden
Cyprus v Wales
Ireland Republic v Germany
Denmark v Spain
Greece v Bosnia-Herzegovina
-Wed Oct 17
Kazakhstan v Portugal
Belgium v Armenia
Azerbaijan v Serbia
Ukraine v Faroe Islands
Georgia v Scotland
Turkey v Greece
Malta v Moldova
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Norway
Macedonia FYR v Andorra
Russia v England
Ireland Republic v Cyprus
Liechtenstein v Iceland
Denmark v Latvia
San Marino v Wales
Luxembourg v Romania
Sweden v Northern Ireland
Netherlands v Slovenia
Germany v Czech Republic
Albania v Bulgaria
France v Lithuania

International Friendlies
-Sat Oct 13
El Salvador v Costa Rica
Switzerland v Austria
-Sun Oct 14
Mexico v Nigeria
Honduras v Panama
Senegal v Guinea
-Tue Oct 16
Qatar v Iraq
-Wed Oct 17
Mexico v Guatemala
Finland v Spain
El Salvador v Trinidad & Tobago
Estonia v Montenegro
Morocco v Namibia
Poland v Hungary
Japan v Egypt
Costa Rica v Haiti
Austria v Cote d'Ivoire
Switzerland v USA
Italy v South Africa
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Russian Premier League
-Standings after 26 rounds (of 30):
49 Spartak Moscow
49 Zenit St Petersburg
46 FC Moscow
41 CSKA Moscow
41 Saturn Moscow
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jonathan Wilson at the Guardian with the story of Dynamo Kiev and their struggles since the glory days of the 60's.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune - From Chelsea to Cambodia, the differences in the life of a soccer player is more than light years apart.
-Here is the original article on Cambodian football by Ek Madra of Reuters that Hughes sites in his story.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The groups have been drawn for the next stage of the UEFA Cup competition.

Ding Ding Ding (Ascending Notes) News

FC Dallas has become the 5th MLS team to clinch a spot in the post-season playoffs for the MLS Cup.

~and~

Very interesting note from Allen Hopkins of ESPN on the new field being laid down right now at DC United's RFK Stadium: The new field to be installed is a combination of real grass and synthetic field-turf similar to the surface at Denver's Invesco Mile High Stadium -- considered one of the best playing surfaces anywhere in the country.

~and~

Finally a new essay from KC & USA defender Jimmy Conrad at Soccernet. I don't know what Jimmy has been doing, he did not play for the last week or two due to a Red Card. There has not been a new episode of his radio show in nearly 2 months, and this is the first time we have seen his words at Soccernet since just after the Gold Cup. What gives Jimbo?


MLS
Matches & scores:
-Sat Oct 6
Columbus 1-3 Dallas - Colu goal by Eddie Gaven. Dal goals by Arturo Alvarez & 2 by Abe Thompson.
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Match report from the Dallas Morning News.
Chicago 2-1 New England - Chic goals by Chris Rolfe & Chad Barrett. NE goal by Jeff Larentowicz.
Match report by Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun Times.
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report from the Boston Herald.
Post-game notes by Arroyave on his Red Card blog.
Post-game notes by Dell'apa of the Globe.
Salt Lake 2-3 Chivas USA - RSL goals by Chris Brown & Robbie Findley. Chiv goals 2 by John Cunliffe & Paulo Nagamura.
Match report from the Salt Lake Tribune.
Post-game notes from the Deseret Morning News.
-Sun Oct 7
Houston 1-2 Los Angeles - Hou goal by Nate Jaqua. LA goals by Carlos Pavon & Gavin Glinton.
Match report by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Post-game notes by Fallas at the Chron.
Post-game notes by Glenn Davis on The Soccer Hour blog.
Colorado 1-0 Toronto - goal by Jovan Kirovski.
Match report by John Meyer of the Denver Post.
Match report from the Rocky Mountain News.
Post-game notes by George Tanner at the FC Rocky blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Colorado had Mehdi Ballouchy sent off with a Red Card on a bad tackle, and Pablo Mastroeni sent off with 2 Yellows. They were the only 2 players sent off on Sat & Sun in MLS matches.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at MLSnet reviews the matches from the weekend past.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com with his MLS weekend match roundup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post with DC United post-game notes (Friday night in KC) on the Soccer Insider blog.
-The scary news is that Josh Gros is showing post concussion syndrome signs again.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Boston Globe Sunday Magazine with a nice little story on New England's Steve Ralston.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle with an article on the friendship between Houston coach Dom Kinnear and LA coach Frank Yallop.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Haydon of the Washington Times writes about Jaime Moreno, the humble DC United forward who happens to be the all time leading goal scorer in MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Webster of Fox Soccer Channel wants to know why you all hate Landon Donovan so much.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales at Soccernet says there is no doubt the Donovan is the best player in America.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Billy Witz of the Daily Breeze looks at the youth system being put together by Chivas USA, and says its impressive. Nice.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chicago Sun Times reporter Lacy Banks says the Fire's Cuauhtemoc Blanco is the best he has ever seen. (from before Saturday's game)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A Q & A with the coach of a small college in Arizona called Yavapai that has produced Avery John of New England and Mike Randolph & Alan Gordon of Los Angeles.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star says TFC is going to be playing more youngsters in their final games, but I wonder why they haven't been doing more of this all along as terrible as they have been.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pete Grathoff of the KC Star with his weekly MLS notes column.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

du Nord's MLS Rookie Of The Year Watch has dwindled to the final two. And how to differentiate I don't know. Maurice Edu has been a staple for Toronto, the most consistent player from day 1, at a position that the league is full of, but his team is terrible. Dane Richards has been a surprise for New York, pick to be a back up, thrust into the line up due to an injury, but too good to replace once others got healthy. Last week the two teams went head to head and I thought it might help answer the question. But no. Edu scored early giving him the edge. Richards scored late bringing him right back to level. Who do you pick?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Colorado Rapids Reserves have won the MLS Reserve Division for the 2nd year in a row, after beating Toronto 3-0 on Saturday night. And as the old saying goes, that and a nickel will get you a red hot cup of jack squat. Indeed.
-George Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News soccer blog FC Rocky with post-game notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

St Paul Pioneer Press sports/gossip columnist Charlie Waters, who likes to call himself Shooter, says that "(Minnesota Vikings owner Zygi) Wilf is interested in bringing a Major League Soccer team to the Twin Cities. The New England Patriots own a MLS team, the Revolution, which has average attendance of nearly 15,000 a game." Sure Charlie, we will all hold our breath for that one.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Press of Atlantic City looks at the possibilities of MLS in Philadelphia.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Dixon of Gol Noir writes for the US Soccer Players Assoc about the value of the US Open Cup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Seattle Post Intelligencer confirms that former Microsoft exec and multi-billionaire Paul Allen will be part of the ownership group for the Seattle Sounders when they join MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Miami of the First Division has named former Brazilian World Cup player Zinho as their new head coach. He has been a player on their team the past 2 seasons.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans in Europe - how'd their recent matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - on the bench but did not play in a 1-2 win at Uniao Leiria.
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - did not dress for his teams 0-1 home loss to Hibernian. Maybe he shoulda played, huh coach?
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - started and went 90 minutes as usual, and the team won 0-2 at Carl Zeiss Jena.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - played all 90 in a 0-2 home loss to Portsmouth.
-Nat Borchers - Odd Grenland - did not play in his teams 4-1 loss at Rosenborg.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - started and was subbed out in the 72nd minute of a 9-0 win over Heracles Almelo. I am not kidding, 9-0, with 7 goals scored by Brazilian Afonso Alves (and he is not even that good)!
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - take on Aarhus today.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played the full 90 as the team won 0-2 at Stuttgart. They are in 6th place.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - out injured as the team wins 1-0 over Derby.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - play Helsingborg today.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played the whole match and won 1-3 at Scunthorpe.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played all 90 in a 0-2 home loss to Portsmouth.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - got his very first start and went 65 minutes in a 1-0 loss at Reading. Replaced by Eddie Lewis of all people.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - goes the distance in a 2-1 win over Birmingham.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - starts and finally gets a clean sheet again, winning 1-0 over terrible Derby County.
-Tim Howard - Everton - back in goal, but beaten 3-2 at Newcastle.
-Ian Joy - St Pauli - beat Paderborn 2-1.
-Kasey Keller - Fulham - played all 90 in a 0-2 home loss to Portsmouth.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - replaces fellow American Benny Feilhaber in the 65th minute of a 1-0 loss at Reading.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - went the full match in the center of defense for a 3-1 win over Beerschot (one of the great names of all time).
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - on the bench but did not play in a 1-0 loss at Wolfsburg.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - did not dress due to an ankle injury for his teams 0-2 home loss to Leicester.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - was not on the bench for a 1-0 loss at Aston Villa.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - beat Erzgebirge Aue 4-1.
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - lost to Start 3-1.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - still out injured but the team won 0-2 at Carl Zeiss Jena.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kristian Dyer at Soccernet with a great article on young American forward Johann Smith, who plays for Bolton in England. He sadly missed the U20 World Cup due to a sprained ankle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Coach Thomas Rongen will take a USA U18 team to France later this month to play in a tournament called Limoges. They will play France, Turkey & Scotland. Here is the roster for the USA team. Several players were recently members of the USA U17 World Cup team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Club America lost to Toluca this weekend, and today fired coach Luis Fernando Tena. He was the 6th coach fired in the Mexican league THIS SEASON. That is insanity.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA has a Q & A with Mexico and Deportivo La Coruna midfielder Andres Guardado.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Eurocentric scores this weekend:
-Schalke 0-2 Karlsruhe - #2 v #3, and only a few points back of first place Bayern. A big surprise winner no doubt, and the winners now take second place after just being promoted. Impressive.
-Barcelona 3-0 Atletico Madrid - Messi v Aguero, the battle of the amazing Argentine youngsters. No contest, as the teams overwhelmed the individuals.
-Fiorentina 1-1 Juventus - old old old rivals clash, and currently #3 v #2. Nothing solved, but Fiore does drop to #4.
-Bordeaux 1-3 Lyon - #3 (coached by Laurent Blanc) v #1 with only a point separating them. The six time consecutive champs are really starting to roll now, and only a late goal saved Bordeaux from complete humiliation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil Ball at Soccernet tackles the weekend of La Liga - including Levante winning the Cup (from 1937 that was never awarded). They seem to have won another cup already this season too. Which Cup? The First To Fire Their Manager Cup, of course. They have 1 point from 7 games.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England's Daily Mail with a transcript of a conversation between England old timer Bobby Robson and current England coach Steve McClaren.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Telegraph of England with an article on Argentina & Manchester United forward Carlos Tevez who is starting to hit his stride for his new club - look out everyone else. Tevez, aka Modern Man, is a huge favorite here at du Nord.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian has an article by Portsmouth keeper David James writes about his teams insane 7-4 win over Reading two weeks ago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After leading Spanish club Celta de Vigo to relegation at the end of last season, Hristo Stoichkov was given a chance to bring them back to La Liga this season, but that only last 7 games and he has been fired. His coaching career is going very poorly. Two jobs, both over within 6 months.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

El Hadji Diouf has retired from the Senegal national team. Do you believe him? I don't either.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Zesco United has won the league championship in Zambia.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times of London with the story of the Alonso brothers, Xabi & Mikel who left Spanish football for English.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times also sits down and speaks with Grinsi, Jurgen Klinsmann, the coach everyone wants, and no one can seem to have.

Scotch Egg Are Special News

Ricardo Clark of the Houston Dynamo was hammered by MLS Head Office for his vicious kick on Carlos Ruiz of Dallas last Sunday. Clark got a league record 9 game suspension, and another league record $10,000 fine. Wow. I guess they are sending a message. I wonder if the players union has an appeals process, and if they will exercise it. I would think they will.

~and~

The Honda US Soccer Player of the Year Award will be handed out today. The nominees are Carlos Bocanegra, Landon Donovan & Tim Howard. Stay tuned for more details.
-The ceremony will be shown on FSC, check listings for time.

~and~

The buzz round Seattle today is that the Sounders may be pushing to enter MLS in 2008 instead of 2009!

~and~

The Boston Celtics are training in Italy prior to their season, and were visited by Juventus star Alessandro Del Piero! Here are two articles - ESPN and Boston Herald. Pictures too. One from a Juve message board, and a series from the Boston Herald (just hit "next") (thanks to Ethan for this one)
-On a side note, it almost makes me sick to my stomach to see KG in that Boston green. He is the Minnesota Timberwolves. Why in the world would they let him go?


MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Oct 4
Toronto 2-1 New York - Tor goals by Maurice Edu & Chris Leitch(Own Goal). NY goal by Dane Richards.
Match report by Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun.
Match report by Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail.
Match report by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Match report by Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News.
-Fri Oct 5
Kansas City v DC - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Match preview by Bob Luder of the KC Star.
Match preview by Dan Steinberg.
Match preview by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
-Sat Oct 6
Columbus v Dallas - 6:30pm central on FSC & FSE
Chicago v New England - 7:30pm central on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v Chivas USA - 8pm central on Direct Kick & HDNet
-Sun Oct 7
Houston v Los Angeles - 2pm central on TeleFutura
Colorado v Toronto - 7pm central on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Both Davy Arnaud & Jimmy Conrad of Kansas City will be out tonight due to Red Card suspensions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chicago Fire coach Juan Carlos Osorio was Red Carded last game and will not be allowed on his teams bench this weekend. In addition Carlos Ruiz of FC Dallas, Ricardo Clark of Houston Dynamo, and Tyrone Marshall & Andrew Boyens of Toronto FC are all out due to Red Cards. While Maykel Galindo of Chivas USA is suspended due to Yellow Card accumulation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fred2 will be out of action tonight for DC due to a groin muscle injury, and team captain Jaime Moreno is questionable with a bum ankle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scott Sealy is expected back for KC.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Toronto won for the first time in 13 games. Good for them. They earned it. And deserved it. They haven't been as bad as their record.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones of the LA Times does a 2 part Q & A with LA Galaxy midfielder David B******. Part 1 - and - Part 2.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports wonders if there is a "Hollywood Ending" in store for B****** this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Meyer of the Denver Post with an article on the one Colorado player that people have been saying really positive things about - left midfielder Colin Clark.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News with notes from Real Salt Lake including midfielder Javier Morales's season ending shoulder surgery.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jon Gilbert at the Daily Utah Chronicle says that since they are virtually eliminated from MLS playoff contention, Real Salt Lake has been using their games as a training ground for the future.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch with an article about local boy made good - Dallas backup keeper, and potential star of the future Ray Burse, who attended Ohio State University.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chris DeVille of Columbus Alive wonders what happens to Crew coach Sigi Schmid if the team does not make the playoffs AGAIN.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Firchau of Chicago's Daily Southtown previews the Chicago Fire's home match against New England this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LA Galaxy Pres Alexi Lalas told the Honda Soccer Symposium in Los Angeles yesterday that the team has already made their money back on the David B****** deal, and continues to take more money in from it.
-Luis Bueno writing for MLSnet has more from the Symposium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DJ Walker at 3rd Degree was at the US Open Cup final cheering for his Dallas team, and here is his usual great Stream of Consciousness.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe says the New England Rev's are basking in their Open Cup winning glory, but know they have a game this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New York Times Goal blog has been giving space to New York Red Bulls forward Jozy Altidore. Here is the latest: Watching as a Fan vs. Watching as a Player.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune looks at why some soccer match promoters are choosing to host games at Soldier Field instead of Toyota Park. ie. A recent Mexican women's game that drew less than 5000 was played SF. Why?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A website called TV Sports Daily has a scathing critique of the MLS playoff format. Can't say I disagree, but I don't have better idea either.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here is a story on USA coach Bob Bradley's speech yesterday at the Honda Soccer Symposium in Los Angeles. (scroll down past the Alexi Lalas blabfest)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer has named one of the fields at their National Training Center (at the Home Depot Center) in Carson CA after the former USA goalkeeper David Vanole who passed away in January.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There is a new hockey arena being built in Newark for the New Jersey Devils, and many Jersey star athletes will be honored in the building with a giant mural. Former USA & MLS goalkeeper Tony Meola is one of them.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccernet with a story on Seattle's league MVP forward Sebastian Le Toux, and the other recent successful forwards that club has produced - can you say Maykel Galindo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Occasional du Nord commenter Kenny Arena, son of the beloved coach, has joined former Columbus coach Greg Andrulis on the coaching staff at George Mason University. Good luck Kenny, and pay us a visit again soon.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Sudamericana
Second Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Oct 2
Guadalajara Chivas 1-0 DC United -series tied 2-2, but Chivas advances on the away goals rule.
-Wed Oct 3
America 0-2 Pachuca - America advance 4-3 on aggregate.
-Thu Oct 4
El Nacional 2-0 Defensor Sporting - Defensor adv 3-2 on agg.
Colo Colo 1-1 Millonarios - tied on agg at 2-2, Millonarios win 7-6 on Penalty Kicks.
-The following teams have advanced to the semifinals: Vasco de Gama, Sao Paulo, Arsenal, River Plate, Guadalajara, America, Defensor & Millonarios.
-Quarterfinals-
First Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Oct 10
America v Vasco da Gama
Sao Paulo v Millonarios
Arsenal v Chivas Guadalajara
-Thu Oct 25
Defensor Sporting v River Plate
Second Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Oct 24
Vasco da Gama v America
Millonarios v Sao Paulo
-Thu Oct 25
Chivas Guadalajara v Arsenal
-Tue Oct 30
River Plate v Defensor Sporting
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup
Matches & Scores - second legs.
-Several Americans were in action, but the results weren't as good as they could have been:
OUT - Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - started but came out after only 58 minutes and the team down 4-0, with the final score ending 5-1 sadly after a 5-3 first leg win, giving Helsingborg a 8-6 aggregate win.
IN - Danny Califf - Aalborg - played the full 90 as they drew 0-0 with Sampdoria, leaving the agg at 2-2, and AaB advancing with the 2 away goals.
OUT - Charlie Davies - Hammarby - came on in the 79th minute of a 4-0 loss at Braga who advance 5-2 on agg.
OUT - Brad Friedel - Blackburn - went the distance in a 2-1 home win, but lost to Larissa 3-2 on agg.
IN - Tim Howard - Everton - started and dragged his team to a 2-3 win at Metalist (YES!) and adv 4-3 on agg.
OUT - Oguchi Onyewu - Standard Liege - as always he started, sending a first half shot on goal that was deflected in and called an own goal, but right after that he was Red Carded for his second Yellow Card, and the team drew 1-1 at home v St Petersburg Zenit and lose 4-1 to the Russians on agg.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The UEFA Cup now moves into a group stage. The draw is next Tuesday, and here is how it works: The 40 participants will be drawn into eight groups of five, with each side playing two home and two away matches.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Eurocentric matches this weekend:
-Sat Oct 6
Schalke v Karlsruhe - #2 v #3, and only a few points back of first place Bayern. 10:30am central on GolTV.
-Sun Oct 7
Barcelona v Atletico Madrid - Messi v Aguero, the battle of the amazing Argentine youngsters. 10am central on GolTV.
Fiorentina v Juventus - old old old rivals clash, and currently #3 v #2. - Shown delayed at midnight central Sunday (Monday morning) on FSC.
Bordeaux v Lyon - #3 (coached by Laurent Blanc) v #1 with only a point separating them. 11am central on Setanta.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Whatever you do on Sunday, do not miss the huge Argentine classico River Plate v Boca Juniors. These games are always fantastic viewing!
-See it live at high noon central on Fox Soccer Channel.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

To no ones surprise, Brazil & Milan midfielder Ricardo "Rikki" Kaka has been named the World Player Of The Year by his fellow players.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times writes about the stuff he is best at: the intermingling of Football, Ethnicity, Nationality & Culture.

Chow Fun News

Some very interesting US Soccer news via Luis Bueno at the Sideline Views: Bradley said here at the soccer symposium that the US will have a January camp at HDC and that they will play Sweden here three weeks into camp. Also he said that they will keep trying to talk to Guiseppe Rossi.

~and~

Huge congrats go out to the New England Revolution for winning the 2007 US Open Cup!

~and~

The Columbus Crew have announced that Glidden will be their first ever "Front of shirt" sponsor.

~and~

I don't know who sent this to me, but it's really funny.

~and~

Mark your calendars for October 11 - its Juan Toja wig night in Dallas!!!! Yes! (thanks to Alex for this one)

~and~

New San Jose shirt. (from Soccer Silicon Valley)


US Open Cup Final
FC Dallas 2-3 New England Revolution - Dal goals by Arturo Alvarez & Abe Thompson. NE goals by Pat Noonan, Taylor Twellman & Wells Thompson.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report by Kyle McCarthy at the Boston Herald.
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram
Match report by Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News.
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report by Steve Davis of Soccernet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports give his overall analysis of the US Open Cup tournament.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dallas midfielder Juan Toja seems to have lost that sparkle he had in the first half of the season. He was injured for several weeks with an ankle sprain, so I wonder if he is still playing injured.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dallas had to replace midfielder Pablo Richetti at half time due to a groin muscle strain, but Alex Yi who came on for him only played a short time until a powerful shot by Khano Smith hit Yi in the head and gave him a concussion. Both are more than likely to be out of action this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

What can you say about Arturo Alvarez's goal! Watch it now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Oct 4
Toronto v New York - 6pm central on ESPN2
Match preview by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Match preview by Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail.
Match preview by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Match preview by Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News.
Match preview by Jane Havsy of the Daily Record.
Match preview by Beau Dure of USA Today.
-Fri Oct 5
Kansas City v DC - 7pm central on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New York can clinch a playoff spot with a win tonight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Claudio Reyna looks pretty certain to miss tonight's game for New York.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Colorado supporters group Class VI did a very succinct Q & A with Rapids Managing Director Jeff Plush. Really excellent stuff here. (stolen from FC Rocky)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KC players Davy Arnaud & Jimmy Conrad will both miss their teams match on Friday v DC due to Red Card suspensions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC United forward Luciano Emilio has been named MLS Player Of The Month for September.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle says that with Dynamo midfielder Ricardo Clarke possibly suspended for the rest of the season, the teams signing of Richard Mulrooney could look like a brilliant move. Not that Mulrooney hasn't been really good already this season, but he can slide right into Clark's spot without hesitation and give the team a really good player at that position - waaaaaaaaaay better than most "backups".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A couple of really good notes from Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog: First, the Fire did have some interest in signing Mexican striker Jared Borgetti at one point, and, second, Fire coach Jaun Carlos Osorio talks about being sent off at the end of the game v Chivas USA last weekend. There are a couple other real gems in there too that I will not spoil for you.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch has a story on Crew midfielder Duncan Oughton who is going to miss some very crucial games to go to New Zealand and play in World Cup qualifiers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Guillermo Barros Schelotto should be ready to play for Columbus this weekend. They need him badly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob Luder of the KC Star writes about two Wizards young players who first started playing together 10 years ago - Eddie Johnson & Kurt Morsink.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Billy Witz of the Daily Breeze on B******'s return to the Galaxy training sessions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Lalas's column for Goal.com - The 3-5-2: Choking Down the Stretch. Lotsa good stuff here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Bradley at MLSnet with his best goal scoring seasons - First XI: Men Of Influence.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I missed this one from last week, Tobias Xavier Lopez writes about Real Salt Lake's young striker Kyle Brown who is getting some minutes and goals with the first team lately. He is from Dallas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccernet's MLS Power Rankings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The San Jose Mercury News has an article announcing that the newly re-birthed San Jose Earthquakes have named former player and assistant coach John Doyle as their new General Manager. Doyle also spent time with the touring version of the Beach Boys alongside John Stamos.
-San Jose is also showing off their new kit.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Wiebe of the Daily Kansan says that MLS teams playing in non-league competitions is the gateway to Hispanic fans, especially when they play in tournaments like Copa Americana.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Looks like Toronto is going to go play a friendly in Portland in mid to late October. (thanks Brian)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Washington Post with a feature story on DC United owner Victor MacFarlane. Very good reading.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Sudamericana
Second Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Oct 2
Guadalajara Chivas 1-0 DC United -series tied 2-2, but Chivas advances on the away goals rule.
-Wed Oct 3
America 0-2 Pachuca - America advance 4-3 on aggregate.
-Thu Oct 4
El Nacional v Defensor Sporting (0-3)
Colo Colo v Millonarios (1-1)
-The following teams have advanced to the semifinals: Vasco de Gama, Sao Paulo, Arsenal, River Plate, Guadalajara & America. 2 more to go now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mike Woitalla at the New York Sun checks in to see how our Americans are doing so far this season in Europe.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Young American midfielder Freddy Adu seems to be moving up the depth chart under the new coach at Benfica. He was on the bench, but unfortunately not used in their 0-1 loss to Shakhtar Donetsk.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two Americans battled in England Championship Division on Wednesday:
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played the whole shebang and won 2-1 over Sheff Wed.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - started but was pulled in the 54th minute for another attacker, yet still lost 2-1 at Watford.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Champions League - Matchday 2
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Oct 3
Liverpool 0-1 Marseille - goal by Mathieu Valbuena.
Besiktas 0-1 Porto - goal by Ricardo Quaresma.
Valencia 1-2 Chelsea - Val goal by David Villa. Chel goes by Emiliano Moretti (Own goal) & Didier Drogba.
Rosenborg 0-2 Schalke - goals by Jermaine Jones & Kevin Kuranyi.
Lazio 2-2 Real Madrid - Laz goals both by Goran Pandev. Real goals both by Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
Bremen 1-3 Olympiacos - Brem goal by Hugo Almeida. Oly goals by Ieroklis Stoltidis, Christos Patsatzoglou & Darko Kovacevic.
Celtic 2-1 Milan - Cel goals by Stephen McManus & Scott McDonald. Milan goal by Rikki Kaka(PK).
Benfica 0-1 Shakhtar - goal by Jadson.
-Here are the group standings about 2 of 6 rounds.
-The next Matchday is October 23 & 24.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scott Murray of the Guardian writes about the huge Champions League success of the two Glasgow giants this week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul Doyle of the Guardian writes about one of those unfashionable players who never gets written about - Kevin Kilbane - the Irishman who plays for Wigan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some idiot in Glasgow ran onto the field during the Celtic-Milan match and went after Dida in Milan’s goal. The guy did touch Dida, who being an honorary Italian went down like he was shot by a sniper. Dida pretended to be hurt, even using an ice back on his poor little cheek, while the idiot got arrested and has now been banned for life from Celtic games. How do they do this banned for life thing anyway? Ok, so they have your name and picture. Can't you just put on a wig or grow a big mustache or something like that?
-The Football Italia blog rips Dida a new one.
-Here is video of the pathetic flop.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune rounds up yesterdays CL matches.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup
-Here are all the matches & scores for today's second legs.
-Several Americans are in action: Oguchi Onyewu - Standard Liege, Tim Howard - Everton, Michael Bradley - Heerenveen, Danny Califf - Aalborg, Charlie Davies - Hammarby & Brad Friedel - Blackburn.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Portugal coach Big Phil Scolari has been given a 3 game suspension by UEFA for hitting a Serbian player after a match last month.

Romance Plus News

Congrats go out to 3rd Degree on their 10th Anniversary. They cover FC Dallas better than the two local papers. Excellent job! And an inspiration to the rest of us.

~and~

DaMarcus Beasley had a huge day in the Champions League, as Rangers went to Lyon and won 0-3. See details & articles below.

~and~

From Grahame Jones of the LA Times: David Beckham has returned to Los Angeles from England to resume rehabilitation work on his right knee and hopes to play for the Galaxy again before the end of the Major League Soccer season.


US Open Cup Final
Tonight!
FC Dallas v New England Revolution
-Live from Pizza Hut Park in Frisco Texas at 7pm central. See it live on Fox Soccer Channel.
Match preview by Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News.
Minimal match preview by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match preview by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match preview by Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald.
Match preview by Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News.
Match preview from Soccer New England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer has a podcast of the pre-match press conference featuring coach Steve Nicol & defender Jay Heaps of New England, and coach Steve Morrow & forward Carlos Ruiz of Dallas. Download or listen here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Our pal DJ Walker is back with his Stream Of Consciousness, this time pre-final.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frankencooper! A big bonus for Dallas could be Kenny Cooper. He has been out since spring with a broken leg, but he is fit and ready to rumble. He played last week in the Reserve League game. If the game goes late and Dallas needs a goal I think we just might see the beast get in there.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Sudamericana Quarterfinal
Guadalajara Chivas 1-0 DC United - series tied 2-2, with Guada advancing on the away goals rule. Goal scored by Ramon Morales.
Match report by Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post.
Post-game notes and quotes by Steinberg on the Soccer Insider blog.
Post-game quotes by Luis Bueno on the Sideline Views blog.
Post-match analysis by Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated on his Throw-Ins blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fred did not play for DC due to a groin muscle strain he suffered last weekend. And new sensation Marc Burch was out do to suspension from the first leg.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This loss by DC leaves MLS still seeking its first win on Mexican soil.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Oct 4
Toronto v New York - 6pm central on ESPN2
-Fri Oct 5
Kansas City v DC - 7pm central on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales at the US Soccer Players Assoc has a great article on Blanco and the huge impact he has had in Chicago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at Soccernet looks at the ugly performances of Dallas's Denilson, so far. Davis calls him awful. I cannot disagree. And it appears to be hurting the team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News writes about Salt Lake forward Chris Brown. With a President Bush spoof headline.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree with this weeks thoughts after his visit to a Dallas practice.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times on the retirement of Salt Lake defender Eddie Pope. Plus other MLS and world soccer notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

George Tanner of FC Rocky from the Rocky Mountain News with his weekly MLS and soccer notes, in which he calls out the Colorado Rapids for a completely idiotic press release they sent out. Fools.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail says TFC coach Mo Johnston wants to try and put together a preseason tournament for his team with the First Division teams from Vancouver & Montreal. Cool.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star says that despite rumors, a Canadian Football team is NOT moving in to BMO Field, and they are not looking to increase the seating capacity either.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Sudamericana
Second Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Oct 2
Guadalajara Chivas 1-0 DC United -series tied 2-2, but Chivas advances on the away goals rule.
-Wed Oct 3
America v Pachuca (4-1)
-Thu Oct 4
El Nacional v Defensor Sporting (0-3)
Colo Colo v Millonarios (1-1)
-The following teams have advanced to the semifinals: Vasco de Gama, Sao Paulo, Arsenal, River Plate & Guadalajara. 3 more to go now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The young American kid from St Louis, Brandon Manzonelli, who has been at Villareal in Spain for a year now, tries to complete some sort of UEFA soccer skills challenge. See the video on the UEFA website. (thanks to Ethan for this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fulham plan to rebuild one of their stands and increase capacity by 4000 after this current season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Champions League - Matchday 2
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Oct 2
Lyon 0-3 Rangers - goals by Lee McCulloch, Daniel Cousin & DaMarcus Beasley.
Stuttgart 0-2 Barcelona - goals by Carles Puyol & Lionel Messi.
Manchester United 1-0 Roma - goal by Wayne Rooney.
Dynamo Kyiv 1-2 Sporting - - Dyn goal by Vladyslav Vaschuk. Sport goals by Tonel & Anderson Polga.
CSKA Moskva 2-2 Fenerbahce - CSKA goals by Milos Krasic & Vagner Love. Fen goals by Alex & Deivid.
Inter 2-0 PSV - both goals by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, one via PK.
Steaua 0-1 Arsenal - goal by Robin Van Persie.
Sevilla 4-2 Slavia - Sev goals by Fredric Kanoute, Luis Fabiano, Julien Escude & Arouna Kone. Sla goals by Daniel Pudil & David Kalivoda.
-Wed Oct 3
Liverpool v Marseille
Besiktas v Porto
Valencia v Chelsea
Rosenborg v Schalke
Lazio v Real Madrid
Bremen v Olympiacos
Celtic v Milan
Benfica v Shakhtar
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here is a very glowing pro-Rangers match report by Hugh MacDonald of the Glasgow Herald. They call DaMarcus Beasley's goal spectacular.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Glasgow Evening Standard talks to our man DMB.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the next CL Matchday, Beasley and the Rangers will play Barcelona at home. How great would it be to attend that match! (Tue Oct 23)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reviews last nights CL action with the focus being on Rangers great match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexican dipshit Rafa Marquez tore a leg muscle in Barcelona's Champions League game yesterday and will be out at least a month.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

AP has a story in which the Mexican club Puebla has been accused of match fixing. An investigation is underway. That would be disastrous.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian with an article on the interesting dude who runs Dinamo Zagreb.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian also has a story about a businessman who finagled his way into a deal with a small team and then sold the property to developers where the stadium stood. The fans are fighting back.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters with an article on Man U star Cristiano Ronaldo who says he is glad he stayed at the club after his incident with teammate Wayne Rooney at the 06 World Cup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA has Part 1 of a preview of the South American qualifiers for the World Cup in 2010. The games start in 10 days.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How can you even watch the game when this is going on in the stands. (thanks to Joe for this gem)

2007 Women’s World Cup Wrap-Up

A review of the Women’s World Cup by du Nord reader Adam.

First things first, here’s a list of the awards:

Golden Boot: Marta, Brazil (top player)
Silver Boot: Birgit Prinz, Germany
Bronze Boot: Cristiane, Brazil

Golden Ball: Marta (top scorer), 7 goals
Silver Ball: Abby Wambach, USA, 6 goals
Bronze Ball: Ragnhild Gulbrandsen, Norway, 6 goals

Top Goalkeeper: Nadine Angerer, Germany

Fair Play Award: Norway


And here are some final observations about the Women’s World Cup:

Germany is the best. With the team’s World Cup victory, it seems a little redundant to call Germany the best women’s soccer team in the world. But, leading up to the World Cup, Germany didn’t look like a team poised to retain the title. They struggled in a tournament in March that included the United States, Sweden, Norway, China, and other World Cup contenders. And, no one expected back-up goalie Nadine Angerer to play as well as established goaltender Silke Rottenberg had in the 2003 World Cup.

After defeating Brazil in the final, though, it became clear that the German squad was the perfect balance of youth and experience. Well-known stars like Birgit Prinz and Renate Lingor didn’t have to carry the team alone. Younger players Fatmire Bajramaj, Annike Krahn, and Linda Bresonik, to name a few, played with just as much confidence and composure as the team’s veterans. And Angerer certainly proved her worth, not allowing a goal in the competition.

Germany’s coach, Silvia Neid, also had a strong World Cup. Her confidence in her bench enabled her to rest older players and give valuable experience to the next generation of German stars. Neid’s contract lasts through the 2011 World Cup, which means she’ll be eager to add Germany’s first ever Olympic Gold Medal to her hardware collection next summer.

Next to Canada, Germany is the leading favorite to host the 2011 Women’s World Cup. Given public support of the team—a throng of about 20,000 greeted the team when they arrived home—Germany would be hard to beat if FIFA names them host of the next World Cup.

Brazil’s okay. Brazil was voted the most entertaining team at the 2007 Women’s World Cup behind the talent of Marta and Cristiane. More than ever before, the players showcased amazing ball control and creativity, as well as an overall organization they’ve lacked in the past. But, the Brazilians also displayed the kind of soccer fans shouldn’t admire or support—they over dramatize fouls. Much like players in the men’s game, the Brazilian women often employ the “if I roll around and act hurt, I’ll get a call” tactic. They’re the only team in the women’s game that does it and hopefully FIFA, the referees, or the players themselves will put an end to the practice. The Brazilians play a pretty physical game themselves; if they can dish it out…they better learn to take it.

The US will be back. It’s disheartening to see how quickly people wrote off the United States after their lopsided loss to Brazil. Sure, the players looked like they were on their heels for the entire tournament and played some ugly soccer, but one bad tournament doesn’t mean they can’t compete with Germany and Brazil in the future.

This was the first world cup for a lot of the US players, and many of them gave promising performances. Lori Chalupny, Leslie Osborne, and Heather O’Reilly all looked strong throughout the tournament. Before the goalkeeper controversy, Hope Solo also played well.

The US team has a history of bouncing back after disappointment. In ‘95, the team placed 3rd in the World Cup then won gold in the ’96 Olympics. Again, in ’03, the US came in 3rd at the World Cup and went on to win Olympic Gold in ’04. Expect Kristine Lilly to stave off retirement one last time and lead the team to next summer’s Olympics in Beijing.

Now, what will US Soccer do about Greg Ryan?

Norway has potential. Norway reemerged as a world power in this tournament with their respectable 4th place finish. To beat a dead horse, coach Bjarne Berntsen finally switched the team from relying solely on a long ball style of play.

After 2003, when many of the team’s big stars retired, Norway struggled to compete. Now, with the emergence of new players such as Ingvild Stensland, Leni Larsen Kaurin, and Lene Storlokken, the Scandinavians appear to be building a strong core of players for the future of Norwegian soccer.

Blow-outs didn’t help. FIFA was going to use this World Cup as a gauge for whether or not the 16-team field should be expanded for future tournaments. The matches involving Argentina, Ghana, and New Zealand didn’t help the cause. And outside of the top teams from each qualifying region, women’s soccer is pretty weak.

On the other hand, teams on the cusp of becoming competitive sides—teams like Mexico, Italy, and France—would certainly benefit if FIFA increased the field to 24 teams. And the only way weaker teams will improve is if they play against the best teams in the world.

Sweden was unfortunate not to make it out of the first round. The team looked strong against North Korea; it’s too bad they waited until their last game to find their form. Had the Swedes been in any other group, they would have reached the quarterfinals at least.

North Korea finally showed why they’re ranked fifth in the world. After they bowed out at the group stage in ’99 and ’03, playing in Asia seemed to help the Koreans reach their potential. It’s too bad they couldn’t maintain their speed of play throughout the entire tournament, or they might have given Germany more trouble in the quarterfinals.

Australia made it to the quarterfinals for the first time in four World Cup appearances. Lisa De Vanna was one of the most exciting players in the competition, and Tom Sermanni proved to be one of the best coaches. Now that they’re playing against better competition in the Asian qualifying region, expect Australia to continue to improve.

China played better than expected. After a dismal start to 2007, they closed out the year in promising form thanks to ex-Sweden coach, Marika Domanski-Lyfors. It’s unclear if Lyfors will remain coaching the team through next summer’s Olympics, but if she does, China might be able to finish in the top four, which was her goal for this World Cup.

England’s performance proved how important a women’s professional league is. Nine of the English players play for the same club team in the Women’s Premier League. Hopefully the start of a women’s professional league in the US doesn’t get pushed back as a result of the USA’s 3rd place finish.

The 2007 Women’s World Cup proved parity has arrived in the women’s game. Germany, Brazil, and the USA are no longer clear-cut favorites to win next summer’s Olympics. Now, teams that used to be considered dark horses aren’t long shots to win a title—they’re contenders.

Visit the official FIFA site for match reports and highlights from every game.

Going Faster News

Los Angeles coach Frank Yallop will be the guest on Fox Football Fone-In tonight, Tuesday Oct 2 at 7pm central on FSC.

~and~

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but both Toronto & Salt Lake have been officially eliminated from MLS playoff contention.

~and~

Attention all MLS teams - Juventus is saying that Alessandro Del Piero may leave the team in January because they have not been able to come to an agreement on a new contract!


Copa Sudamericana Quarterfinal Second Leg Tonight
Guadalajara Chivas v DC United - DC leads 2-1 from the first leg.
-Shown delayed at 10pm central on Fox Soccer Channel.
Match preview by Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post.
Match preview by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Pre-game notes & player/coach quotes from Steinberg on the Soccer Insider blog.
Couple more quotes from Steinberg.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Oct 4
Toronto v New York - 6pm central on ESPN2
-Fri Oct 5
Kansas City v DC - 7pm central on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC United midfielder Fred has been named Player Of The Week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dave Lifton, host of the Screaming Eagles podcast, does a Q & A with Toronto defender Tyrone Marshall for the US Soccer Players Assoc.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New York captain Claudio Reyna has a sprained toe on his left foot. He may miss a game. Shocker.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News looks at the Red Bulls struggling defense.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle ways Dynamo keeper Pat Onstad deserves serious consideration for the MLS Goalkeeper Of The Year award. Tough to argue with him. Fallas also tells us who he is voting for in other post-season league award categories.
-Fallas with more Dynamo & general soccer notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Green at the LA Daily News says the long odds of Los Angeles making the playoffs has history on its side.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Winchester Star newspaper in Virginia has a great article on hometown boy Devon McTavish of DC United. (stolen from the Soccer Insider)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave on his Red Card blog lists his reasons why Chicago might not make the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Metrofanatic looks back to the year 2000 and Clint Mathis's big splash in New York. It changed a lot of things.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Even though his brother is head honcho, Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated really hopes that LA does not miraculously make the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Wall Street Journal looks at the financial ramifications for MLS of B******'s injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Interesting breakdown of MLS attendance statistics by Big Soccer poster Andy B.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Race for the MLS Golden Boot:
20 Luci Emilio
17 Juan Pablo Angel
15 Eddie Johnson
14 Taylor Twellman
12 Maykel Galindo
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pat Walsh at Goal.com looks at how many new roster spots will open up for American players with the continued MLS expansion.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After this MLS season concludes there will be an expansion draft held to start stocking the new San Jose Earthquakes roster. Each MLS team can protect only 10 players on their current senior roster (developmental roster players can't be picked), and each team can only lose 1 player.
-The CBC chimes in with who they think are the 10 that Toronto FC should protect.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Open Cup Final
-Wed Oct 3
FC Dallas v New England Revolution
Live from Pizza Hut Park in Frisco Texas at 7pm central. See it live on Fox Soccer Channel.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dallas coach Steve Morrow & forward Carlos Ruiz and New England coach Steve Nicol & defender Jay Heaps talked to the press on a conference call about the Open Cup final.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe says that New England is hoping to go to Dallas and finally come home with a cup. They lost the last two MLS Cup there.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald looks at the impact of the loss of New England engine Shalrie Joseph (Red Carded in semis) on the final.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise previews the Open Cup final.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet previews the final.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Don Cuddy of Soccer 365 with his preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Sudamericana
Second Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Oct 2
Guadalajara Chivas v DC United (1-2) - delayed at 10pm central on Fox Soccer Channel.
-Wed Oct 3
America v Pachuca (4-1)
-Thu Oct 4
El Nacional v Defensor Sporting (0-3)
Colo Colo v Millonarios (1-1)
-The following teams have already advanced to the semifinals: Vasco de Gama, Sao Paulo, Arsenal (who awaits the winner of DC v Chivas) & River Plate. 4 more to go now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lars Lifrak at Soccer 365 does a Q & A with First Division champ Seattle Sounders' league MVP Sebastian Le Toux.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An American in Europe on Monday night:
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - came on as a 39th minute sub, but could not help stop the bleeding in a 3-0 loss at Goteborg.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yanks Abroad has American & Odd Grenland defender Nat Borchers answer 11 questions from readers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Champions League - Matchday 2
Matches & Scores"
-Tue Oct 2
Lyon v Rangers
Stuttgart v Barcelona
Manchester United v Roma
Dynamo Kyiv v Sporting
CSKA Moskva v Fenerbahce
Inter v PSV
Steaua v Arsenal
Sevilla v Slavia
-Wed Oct 3
Liverpool v Marseille
Besiktas v Porto
Valencia v Chelsea
Rosenborg v Schalke
Lazio v Real Madrid
Bremen v Olympiacos
Celtic v Milan
Benfica v Shakhtar
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The top 5 teams in each of the worlds top 4 leagues:
-Premiership
19 Arsenal
17 Manchester United
16 Manchester City
15 Liverpool
13 Everton
-La Liga
16 Real Madrid
15 Villareal
15 Valencia
14 Barcelona
11 Atletico Madrid
-Serie A
14 Inter Milan
13 Juventus
12 Fiorentina
11 Roma
10 Napoli
-Bundesliga
20 Bayern Muninch
16 Schalke
15 Karlsruhe
14 Bayer Leverkusen
14 Werder Bremen
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chelsea defender is going to wear a face mask to protect his broken cheek bone, suffered in a collision with Clint Dempsey's arm last Saturday v Fulham.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The big creepy looking Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov dude, has finally admitted that his plan is to buy Arsenal. Let's see, he buys a little more stock every few weeks, gee, I wonder if he wants to buy the team?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian looks at the 1-4 beatdown Inter put on Roma last weekend in Serie A. They were tied for first place. Not no more. And other Italian calcio news.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at what the Champions League does negatively to some teams in their regular league competition.

Made Out Of Wood News

Congrats to Seattle on their 4th First Division title. It's hard to wish them the best though, cuz if I loathe any team, it's them.

~and~

How did Columbus defender Frankie Hejduk feel about losing to Los Angeles on Sunday?: "A couple of chairs were thrown."


USL First Division Final
Seattle 4-0 Atlanta - goals by Greg Howes(2), Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar & Craig Tomlinson.
Match report from the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
Match report from the Seattle Times.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Why if the other two rounds of the USL First Division playoffs are two legged isn't the final? I think it's an awful advantage to one team. Some have argued to me that this is their reward for finishing higher in the standings during the regular season, but I say hosting the second leg and any possible overtime & penalty kick shootout is reward enough. Get rid of this joke of a final game and do two legs to make it fair. Then we can have a TRUE champion.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Seattle Times asks if this was the last First Division game for the Seattle Sounders.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS
Matches & scores:
-Sat Sep 29
DC 4-1 Toronto - DC goals by Marc Burch, Fred2, Jaime Moreno & Luci Emilio. Tor goal by Carl Robinson.
Match report by Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Post-game notes and DC United coach & player quotes by Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post.
New England 1-0 Colorado - goal by Khano Smith.
Match report by Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report by Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News.
New York 2-2 Salt Lake - NY goals by Grandpa Doe & Juan Pablo Angel(PK). RSL goals by Chris Brown & Kyle Beckerman.
Match report by Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News.
Match report by Dylan Butler of Big Apple Soccer.
Match report by Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret Morning News.
Match report from Jon Gilbert of the Daily Utah Chronicle.
Post-game notes by Edward.
Chivas 1-1 Chicago - Chiv goal by Claudio Suarez(PK). Chic goal by Cuauhtemoc Blanco.
Match report by Ivan Orozco of the Daily Breeze.
Match report by Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times.
Post-game notes by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog.
-Sun Sep 30
Dallas 0-3 Houston - Hou goals by Dwayne DeRosario, Eddie Robinson & Stuart Holden.
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match report by Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News.
Match report from the Houston Chronicle.
Post-game notes from the Chron.
Columbus 1-2 Los Angeles - Colu goal by Ale Moreno. LA goals by Troy Roberts & Kyle Martino.
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Post-game analysis from the Columbus Dispatch. Well said.
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Steve Davis at MLSnet with his always excellent weekly MLS match round up.
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My notes from the weekends matches:
-I have to start with Ricardo Clark's meltdown on Carlos Ruiz in the Texas derby. Holy smokes. Here is the video in case you missed it. We all know Pescadito gets under peoples skin, but Clark went too far. It appears as though Ruiz fouls Clark pretty hard from behind, but we can't really see the damage. It's all about Clarks reaction. Wow. He could very well be out the rest of the season and playoffs for that one.
-There are still no teams officially eliminated from the playoffs.
-Brian Mullan did not play for Houston due to an abdominal muscle strain.
-Dallas's big money signing Denilson is terrible.
-Chicago's Paulo Wanchope looks even more useless. He is simply out of gas. Floyd Franks was subbed in for him and looked amazing by comparison. Yes Floyd Franks, one half of the Franks & Beans combination (with Chad Barrett).
-Eddie Gaven of Columbus is looking good again after a couple of pretty duff years. He had all that promise as a youngster and then seemed to slip away, but me looks very grown up out there. Good for him.
-Two words - Dionne Miller!!!!!
-Chicago threw away 2 more points on Sunday bringing the weeklong total to 6. They had the lead in 3 consecutive games, started playing awful bunkerball and were tied every time. They gotta stop this crap. Wiser people than me have said many times, the best defense is a good offense. Chicago has it, they just have to use it.
-Juan Pablo Angel got his 17th goal of the season in New York, breaking the club record of 16 held by Adolfo Valencia.
-Speaking of New York - Grandpa fever is gripping the team! Francis Grandpa Doe scored for a second straight game! Go Grandpa Go.
-Kyle Beckerman was huge for Salt Lake and scored a brilliant one time volley goal. Fantastic performances nearly every game have become the norm for him. Colorado got 100% fleeced in the trade for Beckerman that gave them Medhi Balloucy in return.
-Did you see Claudio Reyna go out hurt again. Ugh. Just when he was starting to roll. I also find it interesting that a couple weeks ago he was beginning to take a lot of heat from fans, blogs and the press about his salary v his performance, and since then he has picked it up. But now this.
-How long has Guilermo Barros Schelotto been out for Columbus? It seems like a month already. They are really struggling without his touch. He has a hamstring muscle tear.
-In their match Sunday Columbus was wearing their usual black with gold trim, but LA keeper Joe Cannon came out wearing all Navy blue with gold trim. How did the referee allow that?
-It was great to see that Crew Stadium has filled in the one with seats. There used to be a covered area on the south end of the field with a second level of seats above it. But its filled in all the way down now. Excellent move. It looks good.
-Jaime Moreno scored the 112th goal of his MLS career.
-Luci Emilio bagged his 20th goal of the season. He leads the league.
-Carey Tally of Salt Lake played in his 200th league game this weekend.
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What was the attendance of the 6 MLS games this weekend?
New England - 19,166 (v Colorado)
New York - 15,855 (v Salt Lake)
DC - 25,174 (v Toronto)
Chivas - 27,000 (v Chicago)
Dallas - 17,366 (v Houston)
Columbus - 24,300 (v Los Angeles)
Total - 128,811
Average - 21,469
Who as is that said the fall was bad for MLS because of all the American football games?
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The most promising young soccer talent to emerge from my Twin Cities in a decade, Abdusalam Ibrahim, scored his first goal for the FC Dallas Reserves on Sunday as they beat Houston 1-0! I like it.
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Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports writes about Cuauhtemoc Blanco. He chronicles the Mexican legend's weekend in LA.
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Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram profiles young Dallas midfielder Dax McCarty who has come on strong this season. (from Sunday)
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The Washington Post with an article on DC United midfielder Clyde Simms. (story ran on Saturday)
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The US Soccer Players Assoc has a Q & A with Toronto FC coach Mo Johnston. (from Saturday after 4-1 loss to DC United)
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet tells us who will win the MLS post-season awards.
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Jane Havsy of the Bergin Daily Record with the story of New York's Grandpa Doe. (from Saturday)
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Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com breaks down the Colorado problems (do more than 11 people care?), and then gives us his recap of the week that was in MLS.
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Jeff over at Center Holds It explains why he, a Portlander who supports the Portland Timbers, would support the Seattle Sounders if they moved to MLS. He will catch a lot of flack from the dirty stinky hippies for this one.
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Wednesday night is the US Open Cup final - Dallas v New England - and Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe is getting a jump on pregame articles.
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Copa Sudamericana
Second Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Sep 26
Vasco da Gama 3-2 Lanus - Vasco advance 3-2 on aggregate.
Sao Paulo 1-0 Boca Juniors tied 2-2 on agg, with Sao Paulo winning on away goals.
Arsenal 1-1 Goias Arsenal adv 4-3 on agg.
-Sep 27
River Plate 4-3 Botafogo - River win it 4-3 on agg.
-Tue Oct 2
Guadalajara Chivas v DC United (1-2) - delayed at 10pm central on Fox Soccer Channel.
-Wed Oct 3
America v Pachuca (4-1)
-Thu Oct 4
El Nacional v Defensor Sporting (0-3)
Colo Colo v Millonarios (1-1)
-The following teams have already advanced to the semifinals: Vasco de Gama, Sao Paulo, Arsenal (who awaits the winner of DC v Chivas) & River Plate. 4 more to go now.
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DC United midfielder Fred came out of DC's game late on Saturday with a groin muscle strain. Not good for Tuesday night's Copa match.
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Americans in Europe - how'd their recent matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on in the 83rd minute of the Lisbon derby match v Sporting which ended 0-0.
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - came on as a 55th minute sub and drew a penalty that allowed his team to draw 1-1 at Motherwell.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - played the full 90 in a 2-2 home draw with Koblenz.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - the captain played all 90 minutes of a goalless draw at Chelsea.
-Nat Borchers - Odd Grenland - started but appears to have been subbed out after only 18 minutes (injury?) in a 1-4 home loss to Valerenga.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - played 90 but lost 2-0 at Feyenoord.
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - played the full 90 in the center of defense as his team beat Viborg 3-2.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - started as always and played the entire match as they won 2-1 over Duisburg.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - out with a thigh injury, and lucky for him as his team was on the wrong end of 7-4 loss at Portsmouth.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - play at Goteborg tonight.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - out with an injured knee, while his team drew 1-1 at Blackpool.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - went the distance in a 0-0 draw at Chelsea. The bad news for Clint is that an elbow of his caught Chelsea's John Terry in the face and caused a fractured cheekbone. Last year CD broke Jimmy Conrad's jaw.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - did not dress for his teams 1-1 home tie with Bolton.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - started as always and won 0-2 at the dreadful Sunderland.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - started as always, but I bet he wishes he were somewhere else when the game ended 7-4 in favor of home team Portsmouth.
-Tim Howard - Everton - Tim-may was back in action, played the whole game and beat Middlesbrough 2-0 at home.
-Ian Joy - St Pauli - started but got a yellow for an awful tackle that broke his opponents leg, and they lost at Osnabruck 3-1. He could very well be suspended for that foul.
-Kasey Keller - Fulham - was in goal for his team as they went to Chelsea and came home with a point from a 0-0 tie game.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - started and played 84 minutes in a home 1-1 tie with Bolton.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played 90 but it must have felt like a loss to tie last place St Trond 0-0. Trond had a grand total of ZERO points coming into this game.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - did not dress for his teams huge 2-1 win over Stuttgart.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - went the distance and got the assist in a 0-1 win at Norwich.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - did not dress for his teams 1-0 loss at Arsenal.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - played the whole match as they lost 1-0 at Hoffenheim.
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - beat Rosenborg 4-3.
-Quentin Westberg - Troyes - started in the goal for his teams 0-1 home loss to Nice.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - did not play due to injury as the team tied Koblenz 2-2 at home.
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Big Eurocentric matches this weekend:
-Roma 1-4 Inter Milan - Roma played a long time with only 10 men and paid a heavy price as Inter are now alone in first place.
-Bayer Leverkusen 0-1 Bayern Munich - the nearly unstoppable forward tandem of Luca Toni & Miroslav Klose did it again as Klose passed to Toni for the only goal needed.
-Benfica 0-0 Sporting - the Lisbon derby ends scoreless.
-Torino 0-1 Juventus - the Turin derby sees David Trezeguet pull a rabbitt out of some sort of hat.
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The Mexican league is using a pink ball all month long to commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Pretty cool.
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Champions League - Matchday 2
Matches & Scores"
-Tue Oct 2
Lyon v Rangers
Stuttgart v Barcelona
Manchester United v Roma
Dynamo Kyiv v Sporting
CSKA Moskva v Fenerbahçe
Inter v PSV
Steaua v Arsenal
Sevilla v Slavia
-Wed Oct 3
Liverpool v Marseille
Besiktas v Porto
Valencia v Chelsea
Rosenborg v Schalke
Lazio v Real Madrid
Bremen v Olympiacos
Celtic v Milan
Benfica v Shakhtar
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Russian Premier League
-Standings after 25 rounds (of 30):
49 Zenit St Petersburg
46 Spartak Moscow
43 FC Moscow
38 CSKA Moscow
28 Saturn Moscow
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The Independent of England has a candid conversation with Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez. He is a smart dude. The headline is all about Mourinho, but the article isn't. (thanks to BQ for this one)
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Bayern Munchen keeper Oliver Wrath of Kahn is going to have surgery to remove bones spurs from one of his elbows and will be out of action for about a month or more.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with young Dutch Ajax striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar.
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Phil Ball at Soccernet rounds up La Liga by focusing on The New Messi(ah).
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Sid Lowe of the Guardian with his La Liga weekend weeview.
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The 11 goals scored between Portsmouth & Reading this weekend were the most scored in one game of the English top division since 14 were scored in 1958.
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The Observer says the ugliness at Chelsea just keeps getting uglier.
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Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich goes into the stands to greet his admirers.
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The Times of London gets a peek at Liverpeople star Steven Gerrard off the field.
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The Times also goes indepth with former England great Teddy Sherringham. I believe he played for every team in the Premiership at one time or another.
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The Observer has an English translation of a Q & A that France Football did with Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
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Finally today, Fulham genius Moritz Volz writes about the bane of the lockeroom - R&B. And we also get many more excellent examples of dressing room music. From the Times.