Mr. Martha Von Creepy News

New England has done it again. Huge congrats to them! Their 4th MLS Cup game in 6 years. That is amazing. But I have to say this - they better come to win, and they better come to entertain, cuz if its like the last two years, I am gonna be pissed off. You hear me Nicol? Pissed off.

~and~

Cobi Jones has been hired by Ruud Gullit has his first assistant coach in LA.

~and~

Taylor Twellman of New England scored the only goal of that game on an unforgettable Chileno, but after the game he moronically referred to the soft goal he scored last week this way: “Last week, I scored with my purse.” Tell that to my grandmother when she brains you with her purse, fool.


MLS Semifinals
-Thu Nov 8
New England 1-0 Chicago - goal by Taylor Twellman.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report by John Connolly of the Boston Herald.
Match report by Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald.
Match report by Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News.
Match report by Lacy J Banks of the Chicago Sun Times.
Match report by Nick Firchau of Chicago's Daily Southtown.
Match report by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Post-game notes by Arroyave on the Red Card blog.
Post-game analysis by John Powers of the Boston Globe.
Post-game analysis by Dell'apa for the Globe.
-Sat Nov 10
Houston v Kansas City - 7:30pm central on FSC, FSE & HDNet
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis at MLSnet on Twellman's miraculous goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle writes about . Several of their key players, Dwayne De Rosario, Richard Mulrooney, Pat Onstad & Eddie Robinson, are sitting on a Yellow and if they pick another up tomorrow night they will miss the final.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fallas at the Chron also has some random HD v KCW notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated calls the KC playoff run "unlikely". Agreed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pete Grathoff of the KC Star on Kansas City's more patient approach to trying to get a stadium built, the second time around.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It's now official - Dutchman Ruud Gullit is at the helm of the LA Galaxy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales of Soccernet on why LA chose Gullit.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The ever-wise Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune on the hiring of Gullit.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LA midfielder Daniel Beckman has been called in to the English national team for their Euro 08 qualifier v Croatia at home on Nov 21.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC's Jaime Moreno has been called into the Bolivian national team again for the next 2 World Cup qualifiers in South America.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

North American Club Friendlies
-Sun Nov 11
Minnesota Thunder v Los Angeles Galaxy
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brian Quardstad & Paul Demko at Blue Sky Soccer have some audio of interviews with Thunder players, and a game preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Sudamericana - Semifinals
First Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 7
Millonarios 2-3 America - Mill goals by Gerardo Bedoya & Johnathan Estrada. Amer goals by Salvador Cabanas(2) & German Villa.
-Thur Nov 8
Arsenal 0-0 River Plate
Second Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Nov 13
America v Millonarios (3-2)
-Wed Nov 14
River Plate v Arsenal (0-0)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Three Americans are playing matches today in the UEFA Cup:
-Dan Califf - Aalborg 1-1 Anderlecht - started and went the full 90 but could only manage the draw at home.
-Ramiro Corrales - Brann 1-1 at Rennes - was on the bench for the road draw.
-Tim Howard - Everton 0-2 at Nurnberg - started in the goal as usual and got the clean sheet in Germany.
And here are the rest of the matches today:
Larissa 2-3 Zenit
Kobenhavn 0-1 Panathinaikos
Aberdeen 1-1 Lokomotiv Moskva
Mlada Boleslav 1-2 Villarreal
Fiorentina 6-1 Elfsborg
Dinamo Zagreb 0-0 Basel
Spartak Moskva 2-1 Leverkusen
Toulouse 2-3 Sparta
Bayern 2-2 Bolton
Aris 3-0 Crvena Zvezda
Hapoel Tel-Aviv 0-2 Tottenham
Galatasaray 2-3 Helsingborg
Austria Wien 1-2 Bordeaux
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro club matches to see this weekend:
-Sat Nov 10
Schalke v Hamburg - the seemingly only 2 contenders to Bayern for the crown.
Stuttgart v Bayern Munich - last years champs, who look like this years chumps, try to reign in the perennial power.
Werder Bremen v Karlsruhe - #3 v #4
-Sun Nov 11
Villarreal v Sevilla - two pretenders to the Spanish thrown trying to prove their worthiness.
Feyenoord v Ajax - old old rivals always play good matches against each other.
PSV v AZ Alkmaar - the top dogs v a challenger for the past few years.
Panathinaikos v AEK - a big match every year in Greece.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Just a couple of days after World Soccer ran a big story on coach Bora Milutinovic, he has been fired by Jamaica. The reason given for the firing was breach of contract. But no one seems to know what happened.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Man United striker Wayne Rooney injured his ankle at practice today is expected to miss a month of action. This will mean no Euro 08 qualifiers for England either. Oof.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tunisian club Etoile Sahel pulled off a huge upset in beating Egyptian legends Al Ahli 1-3 and winning the African Champions League title.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times was at the FIFA offices in Zurich the other day and had two interesting conversations. The first was with a very shady character named Peter Hargitay who is a "special adviser" to Mr Sepp Blatter. Hargitay insinuated that he could have very big influence as a lobbyist in awarding the next World Cup. Why didn't he just say the winner would be the highest briber to him and the FIFA exec's who make the call. Come on buddy, learn some subtlety. And secondly Kuper talked to Chelsea Chairman Peter Kenyon about the state of the club.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My guy, Super Pippo Inzaghi of AC Milan now has 62 goals in Euro club cup competitions! Truly incredible for such a limited talent player.

Initial USA Roster For Game V South Africa

The USA has released an initial list of players that will travel to South Africa to the game on Saturday November 17.

Other players could be added after this weekends MLS playoff matches.

Here is the roster:
G:
Brad Guzan
Tim Howard
D:
Carlos Bocanegra
Jonathan Bornstein
Steve Cherundolo
Dan Califf
Oguchi Onyewu
M:
Freddy Adu
DaMarcus Beasley
Michael Bradley
Maurice Edu
Benny Feilhaber
Sacha Kljestan
Eddie Lewis
F:
Josmer Altidore
Clint Dempsey
Landon Donovan

Nice Dreamer News

Lacy J Banks, reporter for the Chicago Sun Times is my new idol. I was listening to the press conference with New England's Steve Nicol and Steve Ralston when I heard this voice. So silkily baritone, with a touch of the South. And way he phrased his sentences and chose his words, formal & very informal mixed together, made me leap with joy. I know I am being a little weird and mushy here, but I am not being sarcastic. This guy just asked questions a little differently then everyone else. For that he is my new idol. I gotta meet him.

~and~

Chelsea America officially launches today.

~and~

Another of my idols is Pele, but I am really disappointed in some comments he has been making to the press this week about MLS. He is telling anyone who will listen that MLS and the Galaxy sold us fans a bag of hot air when they signed David Beckham. Pele says we were told that we were getting a big time goal scorer, game changer, etc etc. He has no idea what he is talking about. That is just completely untrue. How many times did they emphasize to the mainstream media that he is a midfielder that is a great passer and taker of free kicks? Constantly. And even most of that mainstream media got it the first time. I never once heard or read a report by any American journalist that said DB was gonna light up the score board. Oh, and one other thing, in case you hadn't heard, the guy was injured for most of the season so he couldn't score many goals if he tried. I think Pele is still living in the 70's. Step off man, yer outta yer league on this one.


MLS Semifinals
-Thu Nov 8
New England v Chicago - 6:30pm central on ESPN2
Match preview by Nick Firchau of Chicago's daily Southtown.
Match preview by Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun Times.
Match preview by Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Match preview by Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News
Match preview by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match preview from Chicago's Daily Herald.
Pre-game notes by Arroyave on the Red Card blog.
-Sat Nov 10
Houston v Kansas City - 7:30pm central on FSC, FSE & HDNet
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The great George Vecsey of the New York Times with an article on New England midfielder Shalrie Joseph. Excellent reading.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Connolly of the Boston Herald with an article on New England defender Jay Heaps.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ryan Hunt of Sports Illustrated on Revs v Fire tonight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet previews the Western Conf matchup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at MLSnet previews Houston v KC.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Allen Hopkins of ESPN previews both the East and West matches. Video!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle says the Houston's home field will be a big advantage v KC.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bobby McMahon of Fox Soccer Channel gives us some lineage on Ruud Gullit. Really good stuff here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com's Starting XI: Things Ruud Gullit Will Say on His First Day in L.A.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Canada's National Post with a profile on the Galaxy pres Alexi Lalas. They call him "out there".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And a photog caught a nice snap shot of Alexi last night too. (stolen from who knows where, but whoever you are, you are a genius)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail writes about TFC's Rookie of the Year, Maurice Edu.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lots of news updates from the FC Dallas official blog, including info on their upcoming trip to Trinidad & Tobago to play 2 matches set up by former keeper Shaka Hislop.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Columbus Crew will play a friendly next Tuesday at Crew Stadium v UAdG Tecos of Mexico.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I can't tell if this story in the San Jose Mercury News is serious or mocking. It's about the potential stadium for the New Quakes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Colombia again passes on calling Juan Pablo Angel in to the national team for the upcoming WC qualifiers. I wonder if his concussion had anything to do with that?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

North American Club Friendlies
-Nov 7
Vancouver Whitecaps 0-0 Los Angeles Galaxy
Match report from the Vancouver Sun.
Match report from the Vancouver Province.
-Sun Nov 11
Minnesota Thunder v Los Angeles Galaxy
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Vancouver Province looks at how the Whitecaps can become a viable money making team, with lessons from the past.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Sudamericana - Semifinals
First Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 7
Millonarios 2-3 America - Mill goals by Gerardo Bedoya & Johnathan Estrada. Amer goals by Salvador Cabanas(2) & German Villa.
-Thur Nov 8
Arsenal v River Plate
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League - Matchday 4
-Tue Nov 6
Liverpool 8-0 Besiktas - goals by Peter Crouch(2), Yossi Benayoun(3), Ryan Babel(2) & Steven Gerrard(only 1).
Porto 2-1 Marseille Por - goals by Tarik Sektioui & Lisandro Lopez. Mars goal by Mamadou Niang.
Valencia 0-2 Rosenborg - goals both by Steffen Iversen.
Schalke 0-0 Chelsea
Lazio 2-1 Bremen - Laz goals both by Tommaso Rocchi. Brem goal by Diego(PK).
Olympiakos 0-0 Real Madrid
Celtic 1-0 Benfica - goal by Aiden McGeady.
Shakhtar 0-3 Milan - goals by Pippo Inzaghi(2) & Rikki Kaka.
-Wed Nov 7
Lyon 4-2 Stuttgart - Lyon goals by Hatem Ben Arfa, Kim Kallstrom & Juninho Pernambucano. Stug goals both by Mario Gomez.
Barcelona 2-0 Rangers - goals by Theirry Henry & Lionel Messi.
Manchester United 4-0 Dynamo Kyiv - goals by Gerard Pique, Carlos Tevez, Wayne Rooney & Cristiano Ronaldo.
Sporting 2-2 Roma - Spor goals both by Liedson. Roma goals by Marco Cassetti & David Pizzaro.
Internazionale 4-2 CSKA Moskva - Inter goals by Zlatan Ibrahimovic(2) & Esteban Cambiasso(2). CSKA goals by Jo & Vagner Love.
Fenerbahce 2-0 PSV - goals by Dirk Marcellis(OG) & Semih Senturk.
Steaua 0-2 Sevilla - goals both by Renato.
Slavia 0-0 Arsenal
-Here are the current group standings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Manchester United & Arsenal have become the first two teams to qualify for the knock out stages. And they have done it with two group stages matches still to play.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reviews yesterdays CL matches, and raves about young Brazilian Jo. (Jo was quite good at the U20 World Cup last summer, but this is big step up.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup
Three Americans are playing matches today:
-Dan Califf - Aalborg V Anderlecht
-Ramiro Corrales - Brann at Rennes
-Tim Howard - Everton at Nurnberg
And here are the rest of the matches today:
Larissa v Zenit
Kobenhavn v Panathinaikos
Aberdeen v Lokomotiv Moskva
Mlada Boleslav v Villarreal
Fiorentina v Elfsborg
Dinamo Zagreb v Basel
Spartak Moskva v Leverkusen
Toulouse v Sparta
Bayern v Bolton
Aris v Crvena Zvezda
Hapoel Tel-Aviv v Tottenham
Galatasaray v Helsingborg
Austria Wien v Bordeaux
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Carlos Valderrama was given a 10 game suspension for waving money at a referee during a match by Atletico Junior where he is an assistant coach. He was also fined $5500 dollars. The team will have to play their next home game in an empty stadium after crowd trouble at the same game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nemanja Vidic has signed a long term contract extension with Manchester United.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Marcela Mora y Araujo of the Guardian tell us about two minnows from Argentina that are having the run of the league this season - Lanus & Tigre.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian joins the legion of other English Howling Tabloids in condemning England coach Steve McClaren's trip to LA last week to see David Beckham. Wow, they really have it in for this guy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fired Tottenham boss Martin Jol has turned down the job of managing Ajax in hopes of becoming the next Holland coach.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Adam Spangler at This Is American Soccer with the an ongoing feature on filmmaker Greg Hamilton and the soccer variation called Chinlone. In Part 1 we get some background on the sport/art and a Q & A with Hamilton. Part 2 is more of the Q & A. In Part 3 Hamilton himself writes about "The Mystic Ball", his movie about Chinlone. Awesome reading.

Copa Minnesota: Minnesota Thunder v Los Angeles Galaxy

Join us, won't you.

Sunday November 11
Metrodome
Minneapolis
5:30pm

To sit in a special supporters section with other like minded fans you need to have a special code when purchasing your tickets from ticketscamster.

Scroll down to the option called "Thunder Supporter tickets", and enter code: darkcloud

These seats are in section 100 directly behind the North end goal.

They are $15 tickets. Please feel free to share this with everybody.

Ruud To LA, Come In LA

So it looks like Los Angeles got their hands on a genuine sex machine already - and he looks just like Nile Rogers too, complete with those cute little dreadlocks. Or has he ditched them?

Dutchman Ruud Gullit reportedly taking over LA Galaxy coaching position. (thanks to mi amigo Joe for this tip)

Exploding Towards News

Fulham coach Lawrie Sanchez on American Clint Dempsey: “Clint has been a revelation.”

~and~

The fine soccer clothing company Bumpy Pitch is about to launch their Spring 08 line of wears. And when you go through this link you can get a special discount on your order. Some really cool old school stuff here. Check it out now.

~and~

Every time I write Liverpool off as the most boring team on earth, they step forward with something great. But I don't anyone saw coming the beatdown they handed out to Besiktas. Holy crap. 8-0. Just wow!

~and~

Toronto midfielder Maurice Edu was named the MLS Rookie Of The Year. No surprise here, his only real competition came from Dane Richards of New York. Congrats to Edu. You deserve it.

~and~

Chivas USA's Preki was named MLS Coach Of The Year. Fully earned. Congrats to you Predrag.

~and~

Happy belated 18th Birthday to Jozy Altidore. His big day was yesterday. He is now Euro eligible.


MLS Semifinals
-Thu Nov 8
New England v Chicago - 6:30pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Nov 10
Houston v Kansas City - 7:30pm central on FSC, FSE & HDNet
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Did you know?.... This is New England's 6th straight year in the semifinals. Do ya think Steve Nicol is a good coach?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with an article on New England's long time great midfielder & du Nord 2007 Best 11 player Steve Ralston. And some notes on Chicago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dell'apa also writes about the Cuauhtemoc Blanco impact.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Boston Herald on the New England defense and goalkeeping.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News with a story on the talents of New England engine Shalrie Joseph.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Sun Chronicle in Massachusetts also with a story on Ralston.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Emlyn Lewis of Soccer New England looks back at the Revolutions matches with New York, and ahead to the Chicago match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on what Blanco and fellow new addition Wilman Conde have done for Chicago this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arroyave on his Red Card blog with more on the Chicago v New England rivalry.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The US Soccer Players Assoc has a Q & A with Chicago forward Chad Barrett.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun Times on the Fire as semifinal day approaches.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports calls the Shalrie v Blanco battle at "marquee midfield matchup." I concur.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet with a New England v Chicago preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis at MLSnet previews the Eastern conf matchup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beau Dure of USA Today looks at Houston's skills as the comeback kings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob Luder of the KC Star writes about the qualities of Kansas City midfielder Kurt Morsink.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And Pete Grathoff also of the Star with his weekly MLS notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mark Zielger of the San Diego Union Tribune on MLS coaches.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yanks Abroad takes a view of the quality of MLS in the playoffs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Now here is some real MLS news - Wine Spectator Magazine has a Q & A with commish Don Garber. What's next, Horse & Hound?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post with another of his infamous online chats. Always something good comes out of this.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jaime Cardenas writes that despite a really quality year Chivas USA may still face a large player turnover for next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chivas USA midfielder Ramon Nunez was named to the Honduran Olympic Central American qualifying team. Those games start on Friday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald gets reaction from NYRB players on the firing of Bruce Arena.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger does the same.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times Goal blog too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer with more of the same.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lewis also has a complete transcript of the press conference by NYRB honcho Marc de Grandpre to announce Arena's firing. Some very interesting stuff in here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ann Killion of the San Jose Mercury News on the arrival "back home" for new Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And the Merc News with the latest on San Jose stadium plans.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Sacramento Bee on the return of the Yallop.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here is a short and fairly pedestrian video of the Yallop press conference.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KC Star with a good article today on Kansas City stadium plans too.
Here is a link to a map of the spot they are talking about. Its straight south of central KC.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree was on hand for a FC Dallas post-season practice session this week. The worst news: Carlos Ruiz was a NO SHOW at practice. The other big news is that midfielder broke his wrist in the 2nd leg v Houston.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star writes about TFC's Rookie Award winner Maurice Edu.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Dixon at the US Soccer Players Assoc writes about the growth of MLS in relation to off-season and off-field news to hold us until next spring.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales also writing for the USPA on Chivas USA's climb to the near the top of the MLS heap.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A diagram of the field where Kansas City will play next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

North American Club Friendlies
-Nov 7
Vancouver Whitecaps v Los Angeles Galaxy
-Sun Nov 11
Minnesota Thunder v Los Angeles Galaxy
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There is a whole swath of David Beckham stories in the Vancouver Province & the Vancouver Sun newspapers today. I am not going to link to them individually.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer has Part 1 of a special video feature on Glasgow Rangers #20, our own DaMarcus Beasley.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Rogers at Soccer365 on USA & Watford defender Jay DeMerit.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Sudamericana - Semifinals
First Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 7
Millonarios v America
Arsenal v River Plate
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gregory Sica of Sports Illustrated previews the Sudamericana semifinals.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yanks Abroad talks to USA & Derby County midfielder Benny Feilhaber who is being patient and working hard while waiting for his chance to play regularly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Southern Africa soccer news website Kick Off with an update on the squad South Africa is preparing to face the USA next week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here is that South African squad to face the USA on the 17th. Make no mistake, this is a full strength SA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League - Matchday 4
-Tue Nov 6
Liverpool 8-0 Besiktas - goals by Peter Crouch(2), Yossi Benayoun(3), Ryan Babel(2) & Steven Gerrard(only 1).
Porto 2-1 Marseille Por - goals by Tarik Sektioui & Lisandro Lopez. Mars goal by Mamadou Niang.
Valencia 0-2 Rosenborg - goals both by Steffen Iversen.
Schalke 0-0 Chelsea
Lazio 2-1 Bremen - Laz goals both by Tommaso Rocchi. Brem goal by Diego(PK).
Olympiakos 0-0 Real Madrid
Celtic 1-0 Benfica - goal by Aiden McGeady.
Shakhtar 0-3 Milan - goals by Pippo Inzaghi(2) & Rikki Kaka.
-Wed Nov 7
Lyon v Stuttgart
Barcelona v Rangers
Manchester United v Dynamo Kyiv
Sporting v Roma
Internazionale v CSKA Moskva
Fenerbahce v PSV
Steaua v Sevilla
Slavia v Arsenal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Freddy Adu was on the Benfica bench for the last nights Champions League game but did not play.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Petr Cech of Chelsea tore a calf muscle in the Champions League match yesterday v Schalke.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

At around the 2;50 mark of this video clip from the Celtic v Benfica game you will see one brutally bad tackle by Benfica's Augustin Binya. Holy smokes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reviews yesterdays Champions League matches, and checks out those goal bonanza's.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The dirt digger himself Andrew Jennings of Transparency In Sport gave a presentation at a conference called Play The Game. He laid out his story about FIFA corruption. Here is a recap of his talk. Shaka Hislop also spoke about FIFA's Jack Warner.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The New York Times with an article on the current state of Bayern Munich and die Bundesliga in general. (There are good lessons in this article for MLS too.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones of the LA Times with his weekly world soccer news roundup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sports Illustrated on coach Bora Milutinovic and his latest team, the Reggae Boys.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another Dempsey at Fulham? BQ sent me this article from the Fulham team website about a player named John Dempsey who played for the club in the 70's, and even came to America to play in the NASL. And an action pic. (thanks for this one BQ)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The latest diary entry from Fulham's witty defender Moritz Volz.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian says talented forward Dimitar Berbatov has burned a lot of bridges at Tottenham this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And this Guardian story mimics my feelings about Liverpool. Why do they only play great when they are desperate?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chelsea has hired a Nigerian who lives in Tucson Arizona to become their new chief scout. Amazing story from the Arizona Daily Star. (thanks to Bryan for sending me this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chelsea are also launching an official American website as a counterpoint to their main website. It is launching tomorrow. I will have a link for you then.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Napoli fans will not be allowed into the stadium to see their team play at Palermo this weekend due to their continued bouts of stupidity.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Trinidad & Tobago Express has news that our old pal Jack Warner has won a seat in the T&T Parliament as a member of the People’s National Movement, and will bring his special personal financial success to an even dirtier world than FIFA could ever be - politics. Big Jack's partner in the party is a woman named Mekela Panday who is the daughter of the country's former prime minister Basdeo Panday who lost his position and was sent to prison in a financial scandal. Jack runs with such an interesting crowd.

du Nord At MLS Cup Final

Hey all,

Just wanted to spread the word publicly that I will be attending the MLS Cup in DC next week with a whole crew from the Twin Cities.
Some of us have turned MLS Cup into a yearly tradition, and its really been a good time.

Also, I am working on co-hosting a viewing party on that Saturday morning somewhere in DC to see the USA take on South Africa. The details are still being worked out. So stay tuned on that one.

Please let me know if you are gonna be at the big game.

Until then,
Brucio

Ronnie, Ronnie, Ronnie, Oi, Oi, Oi News

Today is Sir Alex Ferguson's 21st anniversary as the big boss man at Manchester United. I think the old red nosed fella has done pretty good for himself. Cheers dude.

~and~

Ives Galarcep on Marc de Grandpre, the man at the top of the food pyramid for Red Bull New York: "You must remember that just two years ago deGrandpre was marketing soft drinks and knew as much about soccer as Britney Spears knows about good parenting."


MLS Semifinals
-Thu Nov 8
New England v Chicago - 6:30pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Nov 10
Houston v Kansas City - 7:30pm central on FSC, FSE & HDNet
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times on Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Juan Carlos Osorio and the re-rise of the Chicago Fire to near the top of the league. Plus other MLS etc news.
-Bell with a most excellent Q & A with Osorio, from the Goal blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune writes about Fire forward Paulo Wanchope finding himself on the bench for the biggest games.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe looks at New England's use of the ACC for their young players. It's been extremely successful for them in the past few years: Michael Parkhurst, James Riley, Wells Thompson & Adam Cristman (plus 6 others on the roster) for instance.
-The Greensboro News Record with a story on the very productive Wake Forest team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Don Cuddy of Soccer365 does a Q & A with New England defender Michael Parkhurst.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bob Luder of the KC Star says the Wizards like where they are sitting right now, and Eddie Johnson winning the league's Comeback Player Of The Year award is a big reason why.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Bradley at MLSnet with his First XI: Conference Finals Breakdown. (You and I call it the semifinals.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones of the LA Times speculates on who the Galaxy will hire as the new boss. Add Carlos Queiroz to that mythical list that I started yesterday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Damian Calhoun of the Orange County Register quotes LAG pres Alexi Lalas as using the word SEXY when describing a potential coach. What a joke.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise is like many of us, and not surprised that Frank Yallop took the train North.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America on the dumping of two highly regarded coaches in MLS on the same day - Yallop & Arena.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stephen Brunt of the Toronto Globe & Mail on the Yallop move.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on the same subject.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Real Madrid have invited the LA Galaxy to play a friendly in Spain at the Bernabeu on Dec 5.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News on the Bruce Arena canning. It astounds me that this team can go through a massive overhaul just 15 months ago and still fail in the exact same ways as before. From top to bottom its bad. I am starting to believe in this curse after all.
-Ives also reports on his Soccer By Ives blog that Jeff Agoos' position of Red Bulls Technical Director has been eliminated.
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Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports on Arena's adios-ing.
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Paul Gardner of the New York Sun on Arena's departure and other recent coaching moves from around Europe.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger focuses on the failings of New York player Claudio Reyna.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Clemente Lisi at the US Soccer Players Assoc says Bruce Arena was the wrong coach for New York all along.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Today its Dallas coach Steve Morrow's turn to make post-season remarks on the teams blog.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post with the story of DC midfielder Josh Gros and his concussion problems. Ben Olsen is having ankle surgery too.
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Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail on TFC coach Mo Johnston's scouting trip to Brazil.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Seattle Post Intelligencer with a story on former U Washington player Ty Harden who just finished a hard and crazy first season with the LA Galaxy.
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Bob Luder of the KC Star reports that the Kansas City Wizards are going from NFL-Way-Too-Big to Minor-League-Baseball-Awkward in their stadium situation. The team averaged just under 12,000 fans per game this season, and the new home will hold only 10,000. Oh, and the move takes them from the extreme east side of the KC Metro to across the river a little west of KC proper.
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Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree puts his grades on the FC Dallas coach & players.
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The word on the street is that Seattle will NOT join MLS for the 2008 season, but will for 09. What will they do for next year?
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The Vancouver Province looks ahead to tomorrow nights Vancouver Whitecaps v Los Angeles Galaxy friendly.
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The Vancouver Sun with their Top 25 things about David Beckham. So are serious, and some are pretty flippant.
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FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
From Brazil
USA Group B Matches & Scores:
-USA 4-8 Spain
-USA 7-6 Iran
-USA 6-5 Portugal
-And with that the USA has been elimdated from the tournament. Our intrepid beach & street soccer reporter Ethan F with words on the matter:
The US just crashed out of the Beach Soccer World Cup 6-5 in extra time to Portugal. The US was down for nearly the entire match, but came back and actually took the lead with just over a minute left in regulation before Portugal tied it and then scored the winner with 0.0 on the clock in extra time. I think that it if more people cared, the result would probably have been pretty controversial because the refereeing on the final sequence was a little strange. Overall, a very exciting game. The first period was garbage with the US looking like they had been up partying a little too much last night, but they seemed to get more and more fired up as they fell behind. After Portugal went up 3-0, the US finally decided to try and really made a match of it, including hitting the woodwork 3 times and missing a penalty kick. The final US goal (which gave them a literally 3 second lead) was an amazing chip shot. You should really watch the highlights for that one alone.
Portugal were definitely the favorites coming in (they won the Euro qualifying), but with just a little bit of luck, the US would have won this game and progressed to play Brazil in the next round. Too bad.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer with the details on the CONCACAF Men's Olympic qualifying tournament.
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UEFA Champions League - Matchday 4
-Tue Nov 6
Liverpool v Besiktas
Porto v Marseille
Valencia v Rosenborg
Schalke v Chelsea
Lazio v Bremen
Olympiakos v Real Madrid
Celtic v Benfica
Shakhtar v Milan
-Wed Nov 7
Lyon v Stuttgart
Barcelona v Rangers
Manchester United v Dynamo Kyiv
Sporting v Roma
Internazionale v CSKA Moskva
Fenerbahce v PSV
Steaua v Sevilla
Slavia v Arsenal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times of London with the story on the go-ahead for building a new home for Liverpool Football Club.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It looks like fans of Wigan are in for an even worse season as the team fired their latest coach only 12 games into this season, and are going to replace him with grouchy old Graeme Souness. Very unpleasant.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Oh yeah! Stephen Ireland, he of the dead Grandmother stories, pulled a new stunt last night. After scoring for Manchester City he dropped his shorts and showed off his Superman underwear! (please help find a good picture of this scene)
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Phil Ball of Soccernet on the Basques of Bilbao and the rest of the news from Spain's La Liga.
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Brazilian forward Adriano failed show up for practice at Inter Milan AGAIN yesterday. How many excuses and passes does this talented loser get?

Jump Up & Down News

Can I be honest here and tell you all what I am dreading most - A Houston v New England MLS Cup final rematch.

~and~

Michael Parkhurst of New England has been named MLS Defender Of The Year. My pick would have been for Eddie Robinson.

~and~

Vote for the MLS Goal Of The Year. There are 10 nominees.

~and~

The Sydney Morning Herald says there will be a tournament next February in Hawaii called the Pan-Pacific Championship featuring 2 MLS teams, and Australian A-League team and a Japanese J-League team.

~and~

Sadly, it looks as though DC United midfielder Joshua Gros is going to be forced to retire from the game due to the regularity and severity of head concussions he has been suffering lately. This is really too bad. Best of luck Josh! Reported on the Soccer Insider.


MLS Playoffs
Second Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
DC 2-2 Chicago - the Fire advance 3-2 on aggregate - DC goals by Clyde Simms & Christian Gomez. Chic goals by Chad Barrett & Chris Rolfe.
-Attendance was 19,438
Houston 4-1 Dallas - tied 2-2 after regulation, Houston score 2 in extra time to win 4-2 on aggregate - Hou goals by Stuart Holden, Brian Ching(2) & Brad Davis. Dal goal by Carlos Ruiz.
-Attendance was 30,088
Match report from the Dallas Morning News.
Match report by Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
Post-game notes from the DMN.
Post-game notes by Fallas.
New England 1-0 New York - New England advance 1-0 on aggregate - NE goal by Taylor Twellman.
-Attendance was 10,116 - but there was a frickin Hurricane passing by.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Match report by Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald.
Match report by Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald.
Match report by Kyle McCarthy for the MetroWest Daily News.
Match report from Soccer New England.
Post-game analysis & New England player quotes by Thompson at the Herald.
Chivas 0-0 Kansas City - Kansas City advance 1-0 on aggregate, from goal in first leg.
-Attendance: 19,711
Match report by Billy Witz of the Daily Breeze.
Match report by Ivan Orozco of the LA Daily News.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match report from the Kansas City Star.
Post-game analysis by Andrea Canales at Soccernet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So the Semifinals look like this:
-Thu Nov 8
New England v Chicago - 6:30pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Nov 10
Houston v Kansas City - 7:30pm central on FSC, FSE & HDNet
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Despite a Hurricane causing wild wind and rain in New England on Saturday night, the 4 second leg first round playoff games averaged attendance of 19,838.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at Soccernet with "10 things about the first round" of playoffs.
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Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com reviews the 4 second leg matches.
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DJ Walker's infamous Stream Of Consciousness: FC Dallas at Houston Dynamo, Game 2.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle on Brian Ching's great performance for Houston on Friday night.
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The Press Enterprise on Kansas City goalkeeper Kevin Hartman's return to So Cal and his win over Chivas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Firchau of Chicago's Daily Southtown on the job Fire coach Juan Carlos Osorio has done since his hiring mid-season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe on New England's early preparations for facing Chicago on Thursday night.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun Times looks ahead to New England v Chicago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog says that Fire midfielder Justin Mapp may be healthy enough to play on Thursday night.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep reporting on the firing of New York coach Bruce Arena says team captain Claudio Reyna had a falling out with Arena early in the season!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Metrofanatic with some select quotes from New York Red Bulls president Marc de Grandpre's press conference after firing Arena. There is some real delusion going on here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times on Arena's firing.
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer on Arena too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Yallop has left the LA Galaxy to go back to the revived San Jose Earthquakes, a team he won 2 MLS cups coaching.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Billy Witz of the Daily Breeze on Yallop's departure.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports looks at what went wrong in LA for Yallop.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England's Daily Mail tabloid says that England coach Steve McClaren is a candidate for the LA Galaxy coaching job. Sure he is. And so am I. And so is Bud Grant.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones of the LA Times with some Chivas USA post-season analysis.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gabriel Cabarrouy of the Dallas Morning News looks ahead to next season for FC Dallas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Rocky Mountain News has a Q & A with Colorado managing director Jeff Plush.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep is reporting that Colorado keeper Bouna Coundoul has been called in to play for the Senegal national team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dallas GM Michael Hitchcock wrote a letter to FCD fans and posted it on the teams blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram tells us why this was such a great year for MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post Sports Bog goes into the stands with his video camera after DC was knocked out by Chicago. I feel sorry for those fans who blame the referees, cuz it just makes them look kinda pathetic.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on the DC United playoff failures.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

With an expansion draft looming, Goff ponders on who DC will protect & expose. From the Soccer Insider. Goff also reported that Juan Sebastian Veron might still be on DC's wish list.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Haydon of the Washington Times looks back at the now finished season of DC United.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
From Brazil
Our USA team is there but not one of the favorites. (thanks to Ethan for sending us this link and being excited about the event.
USA Group B Matches & Scores:
-USA 4-8 Spain
-USA 7-6 Iran
-Tue Nov 6 v Portugal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The USA U18 team drew 1-1 with Scotland on Sunday in their final game of the Limoges tournament in France. Bryan Dominguez got the USA goal. The team finished 0-2-1.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Hush of Soccer New England on how the USA needs to build its entire soccer program.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans in Europe - how'd their recent matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - was on the bench to begin, then came on in the 83rd minute of his teams 1-2 road win at Pacos de Ferreria.
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - played all 90 in his teams 2-0 win over Inverness.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - played the full 90 in a 0-0 draw at Wehen.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - suspended this game v Reading due to yellow card accumulation, but his team won 3-1 at home.
-Nat Borchers - Odd Grenland - did not play in his teams 2-0 win over Fredrikstad.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - started and went the full 90 in his teams excellent 2-1 home win over perennial powerhouse PSV.
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - played the entire match but lost 1-0 at Randers. It was the teams first loss since August 19.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went all 90 as usual and they won 2-1 over Dortmund.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - came on as a 76th minute sub in his teams 3-1 loss at Fulham.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - their season is over until spring.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - started but only lasted 10 minutes as a calf injury took him down, and team followed suit losing 0-3 at home to West Bromich Albion.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - went the full 90 and in the 72nd minute scored the game winner, poking in a loose ball, as they won 3-1 over Reading.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - did not dress for the 2-0 loss at Aston Villa.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - held the Liverpeople to a 0-0 draw at home.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went the distance in his teams 3-1 loss at Fulham.
-Tim Howard - Everton - started as keeper as usual and helped his team win 3-1 over Birmingham.
-Ian Joy - St Pauli - came on in the 57th minute as the team drew 1-1 at Hoffenheim.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - did not dress for the 2-0 loss at Aston Villa.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played 90 but again they drew, 0-0 at Mouscron.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - came on in the 59th minute, to play in the midfielder (see story below), but lost 1-0 at Werder Bremen.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - back from injury and straight back to 90 minutes of action as they won 1-2 at Plymouth.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on in the 50th minute to play in the midfield, then saved a shot off the line and helped preserve a 1-1 draw at home v Bolton.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - did not play due an ankle injury as the team drew 1-1 at Paderborn.
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - did not play in his teams 2-0 loss at Odd Grenland.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - came on in the 83rd minute of a 0-0 draw at Wehen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another great primal scream picture of USA & Fulham midfielder Clint Dempsey after scoring the winning goal v Reading on Saturday. And a story on Deuce from the Fulham website.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And the English rumor mill says Fulham wants New England centerback Michael Parkhurst.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yanks Abroad talks to USA & Hansa Rostock defender Heath Pierce who has actually played his clubs last two matches in midfield.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro club matches this weekend:
-Sat Nov 3
Arsenal 2-2 Manchester United - #1 v #2 in England, tied on points at 26.
Sevilla 2-0 Real Madrid - who wants to be #1, well we all know Real does, but does Sevilla & their brand new coach?
Fenerbahce 2-1 Besiktas - can you imagine what Turkish derby days are like? Wow, I get its good.
Zenit St Petersburg 1-0 FC Moscow - #1 v #3 with only 2 rounds left to play.
-Sun Nov 4
Juventus 1-1 Inter - The Derby d’Italia will be Inter's chance to put a huge dent in Juve's psyche and season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Russian Premier League
-Standings after 29 rounds (of 30):
-Only two teams left in the race.
58 Zenit St Petersburg
56 Spartak Moscow
-Next Saturday will see the final games of the season:
Zenit at Saturn Moscow
Spartak v Dinamo
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Top 5 Teams in the Top 4 Leagues:
-Premiership
27 Arsenal
27 Manchester United
24 Chelsea
22 Portsmouth
22 Blackburn
-La Liga
25 Real Madrid
24 Barcelona
24 Villareal
21 Valencia
20 Atletico Madrid
-Serie A
25 Inter Milan
23 Fiorentina
22 Roma
21 Juventus
19 Udinese
-Bundesliga
28 Bayern Munich
26 Hamburg
24 Werder Bremen
23 Karlsruhe
21 Hannover
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League - back this week with Matchday 4:
-Tue Nov 6
Liverpool v Besiktas
Porto v Marseille
Valencia v Rosenborg
Schalke v Chelsea
Lazio v Bremen
Olympiakos v Real Madrid
Celtic v Benfica
Shakhtar v Milan
-Wed Nov 7
Lyon v Stuttgart
Barcelona v Rangers
Manchester United v Dynamo Kyiv
Sporting v Roma
Internazionale v CSKA Moskva
Fenerbahce v PSV
Steaua v Sevilla
Slavia v Arsenal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Costa do Sol won the Mozambique league championship.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Toluca, Santos Laguna, Atlante, Guadalajara & San Luis have all qualified for the Mexican league playoffs. With one round to go UNAN, Pachuca, America, Cruz Azul & Morelia are battling for the final 3 spots.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World Soccer with a story on AC Milan who feel they have the qualities to achieve all their goals this season, despite a fairly poor Serie A start. Via Sports Illustrated.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with Cameroon & Espanyol goalkeeper Idriss Kameni.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Several goodies from The Guardian:
-Sid Lowe says Real Madrid lost and then did a lot of whining about it. Plus a review of the rest of La Liga.
-Raphael Honigstein on die Bundesliga.
-Paulo Bandidi on the Derby D'Italia & Serie A.
-A rave report on Man United youngster Anderson.
-And Portsmouth keeper David James on players taking out insurance on themselves.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The real Ronaldo looks to make his season debut for Milan tomorrow in the Champions League.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The highs & lows and all that stuff from the weekend in Serie A. From Football Italia.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Duncan Castles of the Observer does an interview with recently fired Tottenham manager Martin Jol.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pavel Nedved of Juventus kicked Luis Figo of Inter so hard on Sunday that he broke his fibula. Damn dude.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on some of the huge club matches played this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Every USA fans favorite whipping boy Giuseppe Rossi of Villareal torn the meniscus in the right knee and will miss at least a month.

Bruce Arena Ousted From NY & Frank Yallop Leaves LA

Steven Goff on his Soccer Insider blog is reporting that Bruce Arena has been fired as coach of the New York Red Bulls.

Wow! I didn't see that coming. But on the other hand, he sure seemed unhappy up there.

~and~

As you may have already heard Los Angeles Galaxy coach Frank Yallop has resigned his post with the team to go back to San Jose and run the returning team there.

San Jose is the home of all of Yallop's past glory.

But don't they say you can never go back?