Frozen Pizza News

Mexico got beat by Guatemala 2-3 in LA last night. Mexicoach Hugo Sanchez blamed the field - as usual. We could have predicted that. Cuz Mexico surely never loses to an opponent. (see more details below)

~and~

My Minnesota Thunder officially has new ownership today.


International Exhibition
Switzerland 0-1 USA - goal by Michael Bradley.
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report from American Soccer Daily
Match report from Yanks Abroad.
Match report by Paul Kennedy at Soccer America.
Match report from the Associated Press.
Match report and player ratings by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Quotes from USA coach and players, from US Soccer.
Player ratings from Goal.com.
Post-game analysis by Ives Galarcep on his Soccer by Ives blog.
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du Nord 3 stars of the game:
3 Carlos Bocanegra - Captained the team again, and held the back 4 intact to get a clean sheet in Europe
2 Michael Bradley - Scored the all important winning goal, he just can't seem to stop putting them in the net these days
1 Maurice Edu - A surprise starer in the center of midfield after an impressive first professional season in Toronto, and took his game up yet another level to compete for every single ball anywhere near him for 90 minutes. And he got better as the game went on. So while he was not brilliant out there, it was still a great start to his international career.
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Video of the goal via YouTube. (thanks to Bart for this one)
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US Soccer has both match photographs and video game highlights.
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The North Jersey Herald News with a story on Danny Szetela's USA debut last night.
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My notes from the game:
-While I am glad the team won the game, I am not happy about the USA starting the game with THREE defensive midfielders. Feilhaber, Bradley and Edu all play that position, and I think it really hampered the offense to have so few options going forward. Twellman & Dempsey only really got any help from the left side of the field in Beasley & Lewis. This is not the way forward. It was OK last night, but not something I am looking forward to.
-Ricardo Clark has to be sweating his USA career now that Edu has shown he too can play that position on the field quite well.
-The youngsters who came on late made a big difference. But I think it was the time of the game, not neccessarily who came on. I think if the subs had started we would have seen the same game, and the starters would of come on as subs and made the spark happen.
-But you do have to say that the confidence shown by Freddy Adu and Danny Szetela was fantastic. They just charged at the goal. And it brought Clint Dempsey to life as well. Great to see.
-Clint Dempsey needs a role behind a front two in my book. Free him up to get loose all over the field. Same with Landon Donovan. Turn those two loose.
-How come Dan Califf gets a shot in the back line before Jay DeMerit. Bradley keeps calling DeMerit in, but has hardly used him.
-Three or four different times the referee would call a foul when two players were tangling it up, and almost every time he called the foul on the guy who was GETTING mugged. Strange. At least he called it both ways oddly.
-That Swiss keeper was quite lame. He never really should any aggresiveness, and got torched for a soft goal.
-DaMarcus Beasley left the game in the first half with what appeared to be an ankle injury. I hope it was nothing, cuz he has his first Old Firm derby this weekend.
-This is the first time in 7 tries that our team has beaten the Swizz.
-How insane would it have been if Freddy Adu had scored a goal on that little chip he put wide of the net in the dying seconds.
-Besides Edu, Danny Szetela and Robbie Findley both got their first USA caps in this match. Adu got his second.
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MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Oct 18
Los Angeles v New York - 10pm central on ESPN2
Match preview by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match preview by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Match preview by Jane Havsy of the Daily Record.
Match preview by Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News.
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Dema Kovalenko of the New York Red Bulls will miss tonights game due to suspension aftger 5 Yellow Cards.
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B******'s ankle is still bothering him. A couple months back now I wrote that I thought he was going to have to have surgery on that ankle to repair it before it is 100% again. And I think this proves it.
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to New York coach Bruce Arena about his teams goalkeeping situation. They don't seem settled at on in the net, or in defense for that matter. I personally think Arena has dicked around too much with the lineup.
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Billy Witz of the Daily Breeze with a story on LA midfielder Cobi Jones and what could be the final home game in his long and excellent career. Jones retires when this season ends.
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Red Bulls forward Jozy Altidore writing in the New York Times Goal blog about the injury & scoring slump he finds himself in.
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3rd Degree celebrates their 10th anniversary covering FC Dallas & the Dallas Burn with their top 10 players in the clubs history. Good reading, and I think #1 is pretty obvious.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune looks at the Chicago Fire's 7 game unbeaten streak (but its only 2 wins, with 5 draws). The good part is that it has come against 5 of the leagues top 6 teams. He also gives his list of the teams top 7 achievements so far this year.
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The AP with a story on the MVP quality season from DC United forward Luci Emilio.
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The Oregonian says MLS commish Don Garber was impressed with the passion he saw after his trip to Portland to check that cities pulse on MLS expansion.
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The Baltimore Sun talked to DC United about the chances of the team leaving the capital to build a stadium in Maryland.
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Chivas USA gave out their team awards:
-Most Valuable Player - Brad Guzan
-Golden Boot - Maykel Galindo
-Defender Of The Year - Claudio Suarez
-Chivas Regal Award - Jesse Marsch ("to the player who best represents the spirit of Chivas USA")
-Humanitarian Of The Year - Brad Guzan
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International week action - Matches & Scores:
CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers
-Tue Oct 16
Venezuela 0-2 Argentina
-Wed Oct 17
Bolivia 0-0 Colombia
Paraguay 1-0 Uruguay
Brazil 5-0 Ecuador
Chile 2-0 Peru
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Oceania World Cup Qualifiers
-Wed Oct 17
Fiji 0-2 New Zealand
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Euro 2008 Qualifiers
-Wed Oct 17
Kazakhstan 1-2 Portugal
Belgium 3-0 Armenia
Azerbaijan 1-6 Serbia
Ukraine 5-0 Faroe Islands
Georgia 2-0 Scotland
Turkey 0-1 Greece
Malta 2-3 Moldova
Bosnia-Herzegovina 0-2 Norway
Macedonia 3-0 Andorra
Russia 2-1 England
Ireland 1-1 Cyprus
Liechtenstein 3-0 Iceland
Denmark 3-1 Latvia
San Marino 1-2 Wales
Luxembourg 0-2 Romania
Sweden 1-1 Northern Ireland
Netherlands 2-0 Slovenia
Germany 0-3 Czech Republic
Albania 1-1 Bulgaria
France 2-0 Lithuania
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Asian World Cup Qualifiers
-Mon Oct 15
Macau 1-7 Thailand
-Thu Oct 18
Kyrgyzstan 2-0 Jordan
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International Friendlies
-Tue Oct 16
Qatar 3-2 Iraq
Croatia 3-0 Slovakia
Bahrain 2-0 Libya
-Wed Oct 17
Mexico 2-3 Guatemala
Finland 0-0 Spain
El Salvador 0-0 Trinidad & Tobago
Estonia 0-1 Montenegro
Morocco 2-0 Namibia
Poland 0-1 Hungary
Japan 4-1 Egypt
Costa Rica 1-1 Haiti
Austria 3-2 Cote d'Ivoire
Switzerland 0-1 USA
Italy 2-0 South Africa
United Arab Emirates 0-1 Tunisia
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Guatemala turned up the steam and stunned Mexico 3-2 in Los Angeles last night!!! Wooooohoooo!
Match report by Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times.
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
-Two players from each team got Red Cards, including our friend Carlos Ruiz!
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Oh how the teeth gnashing in England must be gruesome today. All those tabloid papers, with back pages to fill with giant anti-McLaren headlines. Poor Stevie and his massively overrated team will take a beating. But the coach will take most of it, cuz it surely couldn't be the fault of those players. No, they are brilliant. And there is the matter of the artificial turf. Oh my goodness.
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Kevin McCarra of the Guardian with the scoop on the Russian 2-1 over England.
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Germany having already clinched their spot in next summers Euro tournament laid an egg yesterday in a 0-3 loss to the Czechs.
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The win put the Czech's into the tournament. Greece and Romania also secured their spots.
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And Scotland fell on their face after such a great run and lost 2-0 in Georgia.
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Didier Drogba told France Football magazine that he wants out of Chelsea.
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Thierry Henry broke the French national team scoring record of 41 held by Michel Platini. Henry now has 43.
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Brazil, led by Kaka, Ronaldinho & Robinho, scored 4 goals between the 73th & 85th minutes to eventually cruise to a 5-0 home win over Ecuador.

There Goes My Baby News

Here are the USA starters & subs v Switzerland today:
-Starters:
Hahnemann
Cherundolo
Onyewu
Bocanegra
Lewis
Edu
Bradley
Feilhaber
Beasley
Twellman
Dempsey
-Subs:
Freddy Adu
Dan Califf
Jay DeMerit
Robbie Finley
Brad Guzan
Heath Pearce
Danny Szetela

And here is audio of USA coach Bob Bradley's press conference yesterday at the stadium. From US Soccer.

==========================

Football Italia has several quotes from Luis Figo, from O Jogo magazine, that he is very interested in MLS! “I haven’t ruled out a move to America, quite the opposite.”


Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun on the return of Danny Dichio for TFC.
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Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail says TFC is already bringing in players to look at for next season.
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Ives Galarcep on his Soccer by Ives blog says Newcastle has been scouting KC forward Eddie Johnson.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times talks retirement with LA legend Cobi Jones. (Are they related?)
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Paul Oberjuerge of the Daily Breeze on the rise of LA from near death.
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Billy Witz of the Daily Breeze wonders how Galaxy coach Frank Yallop works Beckham back into the lineup without disrupting everyone else.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune talks to a few Chicago Fire players who are already working up conspiracy theories about their match with LA on Sunday.
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American Soccer Daily breaks down the season of Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan statistically.
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The Washington Examiner says DC United players like winning this years Supporters Shield even more than last years.
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The US Soccer Players Assoc has a Q & A with DC United defender Greg Vanney.
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James Edward of the Deseret Morning News with a story on Real Salt Lake rookie center back Dustin Kirby who got his first start of the season on Monday night along side Eddie Pope, in his last home game.
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Allen Hopkins of ESPN reports that Arsenal is still scouting Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
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Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune with his weekly soccer notes column: Sidelines.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times with his weekly soccer notes column: Corner Kicks.
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The Washington Post says some Maryland state officials are very interested in luring DC United out of the capital city.
-And the Posts anti-soccer blogger has his say on the stadium building issue.
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The Oregonian reports that MLS officials are back in Portland today for another round of talks on possible expansion.
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Alessandro Del Piero is definitely not heading to MLS anytime soon. He just signed a new deal with Juventus that goes through the 2010 season.
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Lots of pictures from the stadium building process in Montreal. They are just about ready to go. Looks great.
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Switzerland v USA
-Wednesday October 17
Live on Fox Soccer Channel at 1:30pm central time.
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From our most excellent reader Bart in the South Seas: This link takes you to preview of this evening's USA-Swiss match. Article is on the site of the francophone Swiss television network TSR2, which is airing the game live. One of the many translation programs on the web can give you a gist of the story, which treats the Americans with respect while expressing hope that the Swiss get 2 wins in a week, following their 3-1 win over Austria on the weekend. The piece notes that the USA played "an excellent match" v. Brazil, and that it will be "fresh" Wednesday evening since it did not play on Saturday. Much of the piece naturally focuses on the likely formation to be used by the Swiss and who will be the key players in the squad put up against the Yanks. The article concludes with the observation that - as of Monday - only 11,000 tix had been sold for the match ("not a great popular success").
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Match preview from Yanks Abroad.
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Last video clips from US Soccer before today's game.
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The official USA blog.
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Luis Bueno on his Sideline Views blog says Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times told him that Mexicoach Hugo Sanchez told him that the USA & Mexico will meet again in February of next year. No other details yet.
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It's International week, which means that there are national team matches all over the globe:
CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers
-Tue Oct 16
Venezuela 0-2 Argentina
-Wed Oct 17
Bolivia v Colombia
Paraguay v Uruguay
Brazil v Ecuador
Chile v Peru
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Oceania World Cup Qualifiers
-Wed Oct 17
Fiji 0-2 New Zealand
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro 2008 Qualifiers
-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 2-1 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
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Asian World Cup Qualifiers
-Mon Oct 15
Macau 1-7 Thailand
-Thu Oct 18
Kyrgyzstan v Jordan
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International Friendlies
-Tue Oct 16
Qatar 3-2 Iraq
Croatia 3-0 Slovakia
Bahrain 2-0 Libya
-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
United Arab Emirates v Tunisia
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Russia have beaten England 2-1 earlier today (earlier via time zones). Report from the Guardian.
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A full transcript of Jack Bell of the New York Times Q & A with Thierry Henry. From the Goal blog.
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Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times with an article on Mexico who play Guatemala tonight at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
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Argentina went to Venezuela and beat Hugo Chavez's people team 0-2 behind goals from Gabi Milito and Lionel Messi. This win gives Argie 6 points from their first 2 qualifiers. The other CONMEBOL teams play their matches today.
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Moritz Volz, the resident genius at Fulham, updates us on his season so far. From his own weblog. (thanks to BQ for this one)
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Only a few months after Big Sam Allardyce left the coaching job at Bolton, the club has already fired his successor Sammy Lee and their General Manager. Next.

Gettin' By Without It News

I will be at the Chicago v Los Angeles game this Sunday. Let's hope its for all the marbles! Let me know if you are gonna be there.

~and~

I will also be bringing a gang to DC for the MLS Cup. Lets rock that beast.

~and~

I might have neglected to state this on Monday, but Columbus was elimidated from the MLS playoff chase.

~and~

Thierry Henry to Jack Bell of the New York Times: "I always say that one day I can play over there. I would love to. But it’s still early. Don’t get me wrong, I just love the U.S. I don’t know why. I love the way you live. I love American sports. For me, it’s a dream to go to training and then see a game of football, basketball, whatever game. For me, New York is the best city in the world." (see article linked below)


MLS
-Mon Oct 15
Salt Lake 0-1 Houston - goal by Stuart Holden.
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret Morning News.
Match report by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match report by Jon Gilbert of the Daily Utah Chronicle.
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The Deseret Morning News and the Salt Lake Tribune both on the farewell for Eddie Pope of Real Salt Lake who is retiring.
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The Salt Lake Tribune with a column on the job Dave Checketts has done so far with his soccer team in Salt Lake City.
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Columbus midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto was named MLS Player Of The Week.
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Steve Davis recaps the entire past week on MLSnet as only he can. Great stuff.
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And Steve Davis writing at Soccernet looks at the playoff race pile-up.
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Jeff Bradley at MLSnet plays Survivor with the remaining playoff contestants.
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Pat Walsh at Goal.com says that if a team like LA can get in the playoffs, then there are too many spots to begin with. I can't argue with him. But we both find that watching LA try has been a lot of fun.
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Luis Arroyave on his Red Card blog says Chicago midfielders Justin Mapp & Ivan Guerrero are still not fully back from injury and are unlikely to see action this weekend.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe says attendance and crowd volume are up this season at New England games in Foxborough.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger with an article on Kansas City Wizards Technical Director Peter Vermes (a Jersey kid).
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Nick Green of the Daily Breeze looks at the differences between the way things are done by the LA Galaxy & Chivas USA.
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Billy Witz of the LA Daily News says the Galaxy simply have to win both of their games and they are in the playoffs. Is that right? I haven't spent any time trying to figure this out, but I don't remember having read anywhere else that LA's path is that clear.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports writes about LA's rise to success without Golden Balls.
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Chris Klein has been named LA Galaxy's MVP.
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Nick Rimando has been named Real Salt Lake's MVP.
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Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News on New York Red Bulls striker Juan Pablo Angel and the MLS Most Valuable Player award.
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The Columbus Crew have signed a youth development deal with Brad Friedel's Premier Soccer Academies in suburban Cleveland. Excellent move.
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Before Saturday's DC United game there will be a tribute match played to honor team legend Marco Etcheverry. The will pit the 1997 DCU v Hollywood United (a team of former MLS & world players and celebs from LA).
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The race for the MLS Golden Boot:
20 Luciano Emilio
19 Juan Pablo Angel
15 Eddie Johnson
15 Taylor Twellman
-Those last two aren't really in the race I just wanted to list them to show the value of the top 2.
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Jack Bell with 3 articles in the New York Times and the Goal blog: LA's chase for MLS playoffs, Who should start for the USA tomorrow?, and Thierry Henry is becoming known in America.
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The 3rd and final part of the Blue Sky Soccer interview (text and audio, conducted by myself and Paul Demko) with Minnesota Thunder coach Amos Magee is now online.
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Switzerland v USA
-Wednesday October 17
Live on Fox Soccer Channel at 1:30pm central time.
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US Soccer with a video feature on our man Deuce, Clint Dempsey.
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It sure looks at though USA coach Bradley is using this game as a tryout for next years Olympic team. US Soccer tells us that "11 players on the current roster are age-eligible for the 2008 Olympic Games : Freddy Adu, Michael Bradley, Maurice Edu, Benny Feilhaber, Robbie Findley, Tally Hall, Steve Purdy, Chris Seitz, Danny Szetela, Preston Zimmerman and Sal Zizzo."
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Match preview from American Soccer Daily.
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-The official USA blog. Read about Taylor Twellman's run in with an eel. Really.
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FIFA with a great article on the strong American goalkeeping presence in England this season. They also flag Brad Guzan and Chris Seitz as the ones to watch.
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American forward Josh Wolff is healthy again and should be ready to play of his club 1860 of Munich this weekend.
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It's International week, which means that there are national team matches all over the globe:
CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers
-Tue Oct 16
Venezuela v Argentina
-Wed Oct 17
Bolivia v Colombia
Paraguay v Uruguay
Brazil v Ecuador
Chile v Peru
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Oceania World Cup Qualifiers
-Wed Oct 17
Fiji v New Zealand
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro 2008 Qualifiers
-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
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Asian World Cup Qualifiers
-Mon Oct 15
Macau v Thailand
-Wed Oct 17
Kyrgyzstan v Jordan
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

International Friendlies
-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
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The players in die Bundesliga have voted Diego of Werder Bremen as the top player in the league for the 2006/07 season. He is a good one. Mario Gomez finished 2nd and Bernd Schneider 3rd.
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Did you know: In the Portuguese Liga, Benfica, Porto & Sporting have won 71 of the 73 league titles! Belenenses & Boavista won the other two. Kinda sad isn't it. But its still better than the Scottish League record where Celtic & Rangers (only two teams both from Glasgow) have won nearly every title.
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Mike over at the Needle In The Hay blog has a great essay on Didier Drogba. DD was a player that Mike has grown to love after hating him at first. It happens to the best of us man.
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The soccer writer for the CBC website is in Rome for a month and checks in with word on his massive dose of calcio.
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Inter Milan has been punished after their fans hung insulting banners during the game v Napoli. The Curva Nord section of the stadium, where the most ardent supporters sit, will be closed for the next home match and the team was fined 30,000 Euros. Supposedly two of the offending banners said: "Napoli, the sewer of Italy" & "“Welcome cholera sufferers". I really hope they weren't punished for that. (BTW, I find that second one quite funny in a mean way)
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Mali players and fans were attacked after their team beat Togo 0-2 in Lome to advance to the African Nations Cup next winter. It sounds pretty bad.
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Man United near-legend Ryan Giggs has had his contract extended through the end of the 2008/09 season.
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Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian with an article on Victor Piturca the man leading Romania to new success.
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Paul Gardner of the New York Sun writes about the tactics being applied by Dunga's version of Brazil. Gardner must be hating it.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune with stories on two hugely popular games going on this week. One in Russia and one in Brazil.
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And I think there was more out there that I just simply didn’t get to today. Sorry about that.

Your Little Friend News

DC United has won the Supporters Shield for 2007. Meaning that they are the best MLS team in the regular season! They are also the first team in league history to win it in back to back years. Major congrats are in order! (Insert crowd roar here!)

~and~

It was a big weekend here at du Nord. I did an interview with Kartik at Major League Soccer Talk, where we talked playoffs and all the best MLS news, download or listen here. Plus during the NY v KC game du Nord got a huge Shout Out from our main man Shep Messing!!! Thank you thank you thank you Sir Shep!

~and~

With only 1 week to go in the MLS regular season those two final playoff spots are still up for grabs. Columbus, despite winning was elimidated because the best they can do it tie Chicago or KC and those teams hold the tiebreaker over Columbus. So 4 teams for 2 spots. LA has 2 games left to play in which they must win or tie this Thursday to stay alive, while the other 3 have just one shot to get it right. (See more playoff scenario details below.)

~and~

New England forward Taylor Twellman & Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan have flown to Switzerland to become part of the USA team that will play Switzerland on Wednesday.


MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Oct 11
Dallas 0-0 Chivas
-Sat Oct 13
DC 0-0 Chicago
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Post-game quotes and notes from Goff at the Soccer Insider.
New England 2-3 Columbus - NE goals by Taylor Twellman & Steve Ralston. Colu goals by Eddie Gaven, Stefani Miglioranzi & Guillermo Barros Schelotto.
Match report by Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
New York 2-1 Kansas City - NY goals both by Juan Pablo Angel (1 via PK). KC goal by Jack Jewsbury.
Match report by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Match report by Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger.
Match report by Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News.
Match report from the Kansas City Star.
Los Angeles 2-1 Toronto - LA goals by Landon Dovovan(PK) & Edson Buddle. Tor goal by Collin Samuel.
Match report by Billy Witz of the LA Daily News.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
-Sun Oct 14
Chivas 1-2 Colorado - Chiv goal by Orlando Perez. Colo goals by Ugo Ihemelu & Omar Cummings.
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match report by Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times.
Match report by Billy Witz of the Daily Breeze.
Match report from the Rocky Mountain News.
Post-game notes by George Tanner at FC Rocky from the Rocky Mountain News.
-Mon Oct 15
Salt Lake v Houston - 8pm central on Direct Kick
Match preview from James Edward of the Deseret Morning News. Tonight is Eddie Pope's last home game before retiring.
Match preview by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match preview by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
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The Houston Chronicle says the Dynamo will be without midfielder Dwayne De Rosario tonight due to personal reasons. The team will also be without midfielder Ricardo Clark who is serving the 2nd of a 9 game suspension (but you already knew that).
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Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com with the Monday MLS Breakdown.
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I can't keep all this crap straight, but Steven Goff on his Soccer Insider blog has sorted out all the playoff qualifying possibilities.
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My MLS game watching notes from this weekend:
Here are two things you don't want to see from your team with one week to go before the playoffs start: 1-New England lost back to back games for the first time this season, 2-Chivas USA lost at home for the first time this season.
-I must say that Conor Casey looked fantastic for Colorado yesterday. If only that were the norm for him. Aaaaah, injuries.
-Why haven't the English wankers, I mean journalists, writing about the LA Galaxy 5 game winning streak? Cuz that would be a positive story, and we can't have that.
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Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star with a nice story on the life of TFC rookie Maurice Edu.
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Billy Witz of the LA Daily News answers the question: "Who are some of those guys wearing an LA Galaxy uniform?"
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Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps & Montreal Impact have formed an alliance (no, not to vote Edmonton out of the Country) to develop youth soccer in Canada.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune gets a head start on Blanco v Beckham.
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A typical American writer from the Chicago Tribune pulls off something amazing and turns in his love for all other sports, and puts all his chips on soccer. Wow.
-Arroyave has a great note about this writer, who he thought was a janitor in the Tribune office! From the Red Card blog.
Andrea Canales at Soccernet on LA's resurgence even without B******.
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Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram on Dallas midfielder Juan Toja, and voting for MLS post-season awards.
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The Belfast Telegraph in Northern Ireland talks to Toronto coach Mo Johnston, who says he would like to coach in Britain some day.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle looks at the growth of MLS in just 12 short years, and looks back at soccer in America just 20 years ago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Boston Globe gives us an inside look at the biggest New England Rev's supporters group, The Midnight Riders.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ESPN Magazine calls Blanco the Anti-Beckham.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports with the nitty gritty on the race for the last MLS playoff spots.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune looks back at the 2007 Real Salt Lake season and sees a fairly ugly sight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald writes about the Beckham impact of MLS this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Chicago Sun Times writes about the same thing. And that city just might even get to see him play a game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Santa Clarita Valley California newspaper, The Signal, with a story on local lad Mike Caso who is on the LA Galaxy developmental roster this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The San Jose Mercury News with some news on the building of a MLS stadium in that city.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Arizona Daily Star with an article on the passing away of Mr Soccer in Arizona.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A little video roundup from Juan Toja Wig Night in Dallas last Thursday. Via FC Dallas Updates. (Best MLS promotion ever!)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Switzerland v USA
-Wednesday October 17
Live on Fox Soccer Channel at 1:30pm central time.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many things coming in from Team USA as they prepare for Wednesdays match with Switzerland:
-The USA blog has a Q & A with Aalborg defender Dan Califf. And later Racing Santander midfielder Danny Szetela answers the questions of US Soccer viewers.
-Can any of you name all the USA players in this picture (left to right). I couldn't do it with out looking some guys up, and I study this stuff pretty seriously.
-US Soccer has loads of photos from training in Switzerland.
-Short introductory audio interviews with TEAM USA newcomers Maurice Edu, Robbie Findley, Steve Purdy, Tally Hall, Chris Seitz, Danny Szetela & Preston Zimmerman.
-And several videos from the camp including an interview with Fulham's Carlos Bocanegra that you must watch.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Suliman Folarin of Soccernet does a Q & A with USA & Derby midfielder Benny Feilhaber.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By the way, Benny Feilhaber last name pronunciation guide: FAIL-ha-ber
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated tells Freddy Adu that now is his chance, so don't screw it up.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet previews Swizz v USA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The USA has never beaten Switzerland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An amazing amount of Internationals starting this weekend-
Matches & Scores:
African Nations Cup Qualifier
-Fri Oct 12
Togo 0-2 Mali
Sierra Leone 0-2 Benin
-Sat Oct 13
Mauritania 2-1 Burundi
Egypt 1-0 Botswana
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here then are all 16 teams that have qualified for next winters African Nations Cup tournament - January 20 to February 10, 2008:
Angola
Benin
Cameroon
Egypt
Guinea
Ivory Coast
Mali
Morocco
Namibia
Nigeria
Senegal
South Africa
Sudan
Tunisia
Zambia
Ghana - the hosts
-The draw for the group stages will take place in Accra this Friday Oct 19.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifier
-Sat Oct 13
Uruguay 5-0 Bolivia
Argentina 2-0 Chile
Peru 0-0 Paraguay
-Sun Oct 14
Ecuador 0-1 Venezuela
Colombia 0-0 Brazil
-Tue Oct 16
Venezuela v Argentina
-Wed Oct 17
Bolivia v Colombia
Paraguay v Uruguay
Brazil v Ecuador
Chile v Peru
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Oceania World Cup Qualifier
-Sat Oct 13
New Zealand v Fiji - postponed, no details available
-Wed Oct 17
Fiji v New Zealand
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro 2008 Qualifier
-Sat Oct 13
Poland 3-1 Kazakhstan
Belgium 0-0 Finland
Azerbaijan 0-2 Portugal
Armenia 0-0 Serbia
Italy 2-0 Georgia
Faroe Islands 0-6 France
Moldova 1-1 Turkey
Hungary 2-0 Malta
Slovakia 7-0 San Marino
Croatia 1-0 Israel
Iceland 2-4 Latvia
Slovenia 0-0 Albania
Romania 1-0 Netherlands
Scotland 3-1 Ukraine
England 3-0 Estonia
Belarus 0-1 Luxembourg
Liechtenstein 0-3 Sweden
Cyprus 3-1 Wales
Ireland Republic 0-0 Germany
Denmark 1-3 Spain
Greece 3-2 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
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Germany has qualified for Euro 08. They are the first team in. Well, I guess technically they are third after co-hosts Switzerland and Austria.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dutch winger Ryan Babel overslept for the 2nd time was replaced in the Netherlands starting 11. Not cool dude.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

AFC World Cup Qualifier
-Thu Oct 11
Cambodia 0-1 Turkmenistan
-Sat Oct 13
Uzbekistan 9-0 Chinese Taipei
-Sun Oct 14
Madagascar 6-2 Comoros
-Mon Oct 15
Macau v Thailand
-Wed Oct 17
Kyrgyzstan v Jordan
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

International Friendly
-Sat Oct 13
El Salvador 2-2 Costa Rica
Switzerland 3-1 Austria
-Sun Oct 14
Mexico 2-2 Nigeria
Honduras 1-0 Panama
Senegal 3-1 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
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico had to come from 2 goals down to tie 2-2 with Nigeria in Juarez. My main man Juan Carlos Cacho of Pachuca scored both Mexigols.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cotonsport Garoua are repeat winners of the Cameroon premier league!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Nigerian football league has been suspended while league officials, club officials and politicians beat each other over the head trying to gain the uppperhand. What a mess it has become. Sad.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Trinidad & Tobago with an article on former Dallas keeper Shaka Hislop and the official formation of the FPATT - Football Players Association of Trinidad and Tobago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil Ball at Soccernet draws some parallels between a U12 team and the Spanish national team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian says the Austrian team that will co-host next summers Euro Championship are simply horrible.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with former German striker and current team manager Oliver Bierhoff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Marvelous Moritz Volz of Fulham fame(?) with his latest column for the Times of London. This time he takes a minute to give FIFA prez Sepp Blatter a kick in the nether region.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English TV program Panorama who uncovered player agent kickbacks in the world of soccer will air a new show at the end of this month about FIFA's bidding process for the 2018 World Cup. Will the bidding me legit and above the table? Odds are against that.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Observer gives up a look at the current state of Russian national team football.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Observer also gives us the good, the bad and the ugly of international club soccer ownership. Part 1 -and- Part 2 -and- Part 3.

Dullard's Delite News

MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Oct 11
Dallas 0-0 Chivas
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match report by Gabriel Cabborrouy of the Dallas Morning News.
-Sat Oct 13
DC v Chicago - 6:30pm central on HDNet & Direct Kick
New England v Columbus - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
New York v Kansas City - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Los Angeles v Toronto - 9:30pm central on FSC, FSE & CBC
-Sun Oct 14
Chivas v Colorado - 2pm central on TeleFutura
-Mon Oct 15
Salt Lake v Houston - 8pm central on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Daily Breeze says Chivas striker Ante Razov hurt his knee last night and could miss a month or more. This could be a disaster for a club that has had such a good season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My take on last nights Dallas v Chivas game:
"Peacock, Peacock on the wall, who likes TV time more than Brian Hall? No one!" The referee last night, Brian Hall, decided that he would be the star of the show on ESPN2. Gee thanks Bri. He strutted around puffing his chest, screaming at players and handing out cards with the arrogance of an infantry man saluting Hitler in the feverish building up to the war. Pathetic display by the referee. Late in the game he even gave Dallas captain Bobby Rhine for basically calling the ref on his bullshit act. Sad to watch. But I guess it gives me something to talk about, cuz the rest of the match was nearly lifeless. Oh yeah, and the game didn't even draw 10,000. Also quite pathetic. On Juan Toja Wig Night even.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The following players will miss games this weekend due to suspension: Mehdi Ballouchy & Pablo Mastroeni of Colorado and Joe Vide of New York due to Red Cards, Bobby Boswell of DC and Carl Robinson of Toronto due to Yellow Card accumulation, and Ricardo Clark of Houston serving the first of a 9 game suspension for kicking Carlos Ruiz.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com with a preview of this weekend's MLS games.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe on another great season from New England's Steve Ralston.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep on his Soccer by Ives blog says New York coach Bruce Arena is still not done messing with his defense even though there are only 2 games left before the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Soccer Daily is not impressed with the quality of the New York Red Bulls heading toward the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Frichau of Chicago's Daily Southtown says the Fire's game v DC this weekend is a huge one.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail says TFC coach Mo Johnston is going to emphasize roster depth for next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Millson also said "the shoes Danny Dichio wore when he scored Toronto's first goal on May 12 sold at (charity) auction for $13,000 (Canadian I presume.)" Very cool.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet feels the Ricardo Clark suspension for kicking Carlos Ruiz was too much.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From Steven Goff's Soccer Insider blog at the Washington Post: D.C. United bossman Victor MacFarlane and Prez Kevin Payne stopped by The Post this afternoon for an on-the-record chat with reporters, editors and a Metro section columnist. The meeting was arranged weeks ago, but in the wake of their letter to the city about the club's plans to look elsewhere in pursuit of a stadium project, the timing could not have been better.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ann Killion of the San Jose Mercury News talks to new Earthquakes general manager Johnny Doyle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Word out of San Jose today is that the Earthquakes will make Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara their home next season. Here's a pic. It homes a little over 8000. And according to Wikipedia it's where Brazil trained during the 94 World Cup. I guess this photo also shows how KC can play at a minor league baseball park next year too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My friend Paul Demko and I conducted a long interview with Minnesota Thunder coach Amos Magee, post-season 2007, for Blue Sky Soccer. We talk about many many things like, staff, new ownership, the roster, the season etc etc. You can read the transcript or listen to audio files. It is broken down in to 3 parts. 1 and 2 are on line right now, with 3 on the way any moment.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Soccer Daily says young American striker Johann Smith of Bolton has been loaned out to English League Two team Darlington.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yanks Abroad talks to USA & Sheffield Wednesday defender Frank Simek who was not called into the USA game next Wed v Switzerland because of an ankle injury that has kept him out of the Sheff Wed lineup too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News with the story of Peruvian immigrant Nelson Becerra who is playing great for St Johns.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Scott French at Top Drawer Soccer gives us the low down on the first tournament from US Soccer’s new Development Academy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An amazing amount of Internationals starting this weekend-
Matches & Scores:
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 0-2 Mali
Sierra Leone 0-2 Benin
-Sat Oct 13
Mauritania v Burundi
Egypt v Botswana
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Both Mali & Benin have now qualified for next winters African Nations Cup tournament. They join Cote D’Ivoire, Senegal, Namibia, Nigeria, Sudan, Tunisia, Cameroon, Angola, Guinea, Zambia, South Africa, Morocco and host Ghana who are already in.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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

FIFA has postponed the first leg of this series because New Zealand would not give the Fiji goalkeeper a passport due to certain politics in his family. No details have been figured out yet on how or when this match will take place.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The foot injury that has kept Edwin Van Der Sar out of the Manchester United goal recently will also keep him on the sidelines for the Netherlands two matches against Romania & Slovenia.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Liverpool striker Fernando Torres will not play for Spain this weekend due to an ankle injury sustained at practice on Friday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

AFC World Cup Qualifier
-Thu Oct 11
Cambodia 0-1 Turkmenistan
-Sat Oct 13
Uzbekistan v Chinese Taipei
-Sun Oct 14
Madagascar v Comoros
Macau v Thailand
-Wed Oct 17
Kyrgyzstan v Jordan
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New York Times blog Goal talks to French striker Thierry Henry about their path to qualifying.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with an article on the revival of Scottish football. Can they continue their hotstreak and make it to Euro 2008?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccernet has a good long Q & A with Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times writes about the latest xenophobic rage in world football - the anti-Muslim trend.

Star Gazer Time News

It's Juan Toja Wig Night in Dallas - Need I say more? You can be sure Tommy Smyth will be wearing one.

~and~

Clint Dempsey has again been named the Fulham Player Of The Month. Here is a write up from the team and some great action photos of Deuce tearing it up. (thanks to BQ for this)


MLS
Matches & scores:
-Thu Oct 11
Dallas v Chivas - 8pm central on ESPN2
Match report by Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News.
Match preview & Kenny Cooper injury update by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match preview & Maykel Galindo health update by Ivan Orozco of the Daily Breeze.
Match preview by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Match preview with a Dallas focus by Beau Dure of USA Today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dallas forward Carlos Ruiz will miss tonight’s game due to Red Card suspension.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree with this week’s FC Dallas Practice Observations.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The latest FC Dallas news and notes directly from the club blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

National Public Radio show Only A Game has a story on Chicago's Cuauhtemoc Blanco. Listen or download here. (this is from a month ago - still good though)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ABC News has a big ol' story on New York youngster Jozy Altidore. Nothing new here, but it's kinda cool to see the article on a site like this.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob Luder of the KC Star looks at Wizards midfielder Kerry Zavagnin and his love of sports outside soccer. I guess that counts as an article in a daily paper, but I would bet he could come up with something a little meatier if he tried a little harder ...
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet raves about MLS's Designated Player rule.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bill Urban at the US Soccer Players Assoc says LA should not risk B****** to greater injury, or disturbing team chemistry.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Friendly:
Chicago 0-1 Cruz Azul - goal by Jared Borgetti(PK)
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune. (Featuring more of that infamous ignorance from Jared Borgetti - excuses excuses excuses.)
Match report by Nick Firchau of Chicago's Daily Southtown.
Match report by Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun Times.
More on Blanco from Arroyave on his Red Card blog.
"The Stare" Arroyave asks Borgetti about the show down with Onyewu. You Will Obey.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New MLS team and stadium talk coming from every direction today-
The East Coast:
The Washington Examiner says that DC United has begun looking to the suburbs for a potential stadium site.
-The Washington Post with a copy of the letter that DC United management sent to The District mayor.
The West Coast:
The Seattle Times with the latest news and rumors on a MLS team in Seattle.
The Midwest:
The Belleville News Democrat with an update on a potential MLS team in St Louis. (including a map of the proposed stadium site)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Sudamericana
Quarterfinals
First Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Oct 10
America 2-0 Vasco da Gama
Sao Paulo 0-1 Millonarios
Arsenal 0-0 Chivas Guadalajara
-Thu Oct 25
Defensor Sporting v River Plate
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Our USA boys are hitting the practice field in Yverdon-Les-Bains ahead of their match next Wednesday v Switzerland. The official team blog is a great way to stay in tune.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Young American midfielder Lee Nguyen is finally back in training with PSV.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Seltzer of American Soccer Daily talks to USA & Hansa Rostock left back Heath Pearce about the upcoming Switzerland game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yanks Abroad talks to USA & Charlton defender Cory Gibbs on his return from injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dallas forward Carlos Ruiz will be joining up with his Guatemalan team for their match next Wednesday v Mexico in LA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Milan's Brazilian goalkeeper Nelson Dida has been suspended for his clubs next 2 Champions League games due to his fake injury suffered in Glasgow when a fan ran on the field and touched him v Celtic.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle previews South American World Cup Qualifying.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brazil's WCQ next week v Ecuador will be the teams first game on Brazilian soil in over 2 years. TWO YEARS. Wow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters with an article on the importance of midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme to Argentina, even though he has not played this fall for Villareal who, for some bizarre reason, hate him.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Cherry Flavor News

A very exciting new video clip from FC Dallas "featuring Bobby Rhine (as Juan Toja) and co-starring Carlos Ruiz (as Juan Toja), Chase Wileman (as Juan Toja), Sandy Gbandi (as Juan Toja), Dario Sala (as Juan Toja), Anthony Wallace (as Juan Toja), Chris Gbandi (as Juan Toja), Steve Morrow (as Juan Toja), and of course, Juan Toja (as himself)."

~and~

Some are saying that we may hear official news on Seattle's bid to join MLS this week.


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

Dallas forward Abe Thompson was named MLS Player Of The Week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Firchau of Chicago's Daily Southtown on the Fire's match v Cruz Azul tonight, and v DC United on Saturday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave on the Red Card blog says Chicago defender Wilman Conde has a bum foot.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arroyave for the Chicago Tribune with various Fire team notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News on Eddie Pope's final goodbye's to Real Salt Lake, MLS, USA and his soccer career.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with the latest in Dynamo, MLS and other soccer news bites.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star says just because TFC's original season is almost over, it's still hard work for everyone on the team in training sessions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The US Soccer Players Assoc has a Q & A with Kansas City attacker Davy Arnaud.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports on the high quality of New England and their manager Steve Nicol.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Billy Witz of the Daily Breeze says that B******'s injury has kept the LA Galaxy from having to play in my hometown of Minneapolis tonight, pity, and several other meaningless matches that they booked at the wrong time of year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mark Ziegler of the San Diego Union Tribune ponders what the LA Galaxy will do if B****** gets healthy before the season ends.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales at the US Soccer Players Assoc writes about Chris Armas' & Cobi Jones' possible about-face on their announced retirements.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Metrofanatic gaze into their crystal ball, go backward to the year 2000, pick up a nice piece of wood, and give Steve Shak another beating.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ryan Hunt of Sports Illustrated with his MLS p/review Free Kicks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Want to ask a question of MLS Commish Don Garber? Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated will be doing an interview with the big guy and he wants your input.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Oregonian with word today from MLS that because Seattle is a front runner for an expansion team it will not elimidate Portland from potentially joining the league some day as well. We need Seattle & Portland in the same league for rivalry purposes. They go together like liver and onions. I will let you figure out which is which.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones of the LA Times with his news & notes of the week: Corner Kicks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post says the case has finally been settled out of court on the young player who had his leg broken 3 years ago by the DC United player Hristo Stoichkov.
-More on the story on Goff's blog Soccer Insider.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Sudamericana
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
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated with a great in-depth look at USA & Heerenveen midfielder Michael Bradley.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com pick their Team USA lineup for the Switzerland match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Wiebe of the Daily Kansan likes the "future team" approach of this USA roster.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The USA team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail writes about TFC prize youngster Maurice Edu getting called up for the USA this week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated tells us about Edgar Castillo. Who is he? He is an American kid who got a shot with Santos Laguna in Mexico, is tearing it up for his club, and has now been called in to the national team camp of MEXICO. What? Not good. Do you get that sick feeling in your stomach when you hear about stuff like this? I sure do.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The 30 nominees for the 2007 FIFA Player Of The Year award:
Gianluigi Buffon
Fabio Cannavaro
Petr Cech
Cristiano Ronaldo
Deco
Didier Drogba
Michael Essien
Samuel Eto'o
Gennaro Gattuso
Steven Gerrard
Thierry Henry
Juninho Pernambucano
Rikki Kaka
Miroslav Klose
Philipp Lahm
Frank Lampard
Rafael Marquez
Lionel Messi
Alessandro Nesta
Andrea Pirlo
Franck Ribery
Juan Roman Riquelme
Ronaldinho
Wayne Rooney
John Terry
Carlos Tevez
Lilian Thuram
Fernando Torres
Ruud van Nistelrooy
Patrick Vieira
-Again as it is every year, this list is pathetic. The number of amazing players not on this list is staggering. And the number of past-their-sell-by-date bums on this list is numbing. Typical FIFA, day late, and a dollar short (for us, cuz of course they lined their pockets).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times writes about the young German player (of Iranian descent) who refuses to play a match in Israel. (I was considering omitting his name here because I find guys like this irrelevant to the rest of the humans on earth, but then I realized that everyone should know this idiots name - Ashkan Dejagah, and his club team is Wolfsburg.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at Club v Country.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Seltzer at Soccer365 with his top 10 Euro clubs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You ever seen this, The Real Football Factories (video), a show where a guy goes around the world with the most notorious football fans. Here's Argentina. Insane. (thanks to Daniele for tipping us off on this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paraguay will not have their top forward Roque Santa Cruz for the World Cup Qualifiers due to severe tendinitis in his knee. He could be out over a month.

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.
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Our man Luis Bueno at the Press Enterprise sings the praises of Landon Donovan too.
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Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News says that a revived LA Galaxy is good for MLS.
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Andrea Canales of Soccer 365 says David B****** is having to learn about patience.
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USA Today with a story on the success of Blanco in Chicago.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with his weekly Dynamo notes column.
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The Washington Post with more on DC United player Josh Gros's possible serious concussion problems.
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Emlyn Lewis of Soccer New England calls the Revolution Jekyll & Hyde.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger on the Red Bull’s backing into the playoffs.
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Jeff Bradley at MLSnet give us the best games left this season - First XI: Big-Time MLS Games Remain.
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Goal.com sorts out their view on how the MLS playoffs are gonna look.
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The Washington Post with the latest on political ugliness behind a possible DC United stadium.
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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)
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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
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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
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Jonathan Wilson at the Guardian with the story of Dynamo Kiev and their struggles since the glory days of the 60's.
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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.
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The groups have been drawn for the next stage of the UEFA Cup competition.