Flippin Burgers Fer A Livin News

A Note From good ol' Joe: Don't forget to set your TIVO to watch this year's holiday train wreck: Barbara Walters interviews the Beck-Mans – Thursday on ABC.


Word is beginning to leak about next seasons MLS home openers:
-The New San Jose Earthquakes will start their season at home on March 29 v New York.
-New York will play their first home game a week later v Columbus.
-Columbus will host Toronto March 29.
-Then Toronto goes to DC on Apr 5 for United’s home opener.
-When does TFC get theirs?
-KC v DC on Mar 29. I will be there!
-And Houston goes to New England to show off their new rings on March 29.
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The Andriy Shevchenko to MLS rumors were re-lit by the English tabloids again yesterday. They say January transfer window.
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The Colorado Rapids has a Q & A with their goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul, who just returned from his first time playing with his national team in Senegal. He got his first cap v Mali.
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Houston dynamo team President Oliver Luck wrote an end of season article to all the fans on the state of the team. (from last week, sorry I missed it)
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MLSnet has a review of the FC Dallas season, and ask Five Big Questions for next year.
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Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News says Red Bull fans are already beginning to look ahead to a day when their team will have a real home.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times with an article on Freddy Adu, and his time so far at Benfica in Portugal. Plus other MLS & world soccer news.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer with an article on the viability of soccer in America in the 21st century. The author is a skeptic, the kind who uses NASL references as his argument. Won't it be a great day when this article is never written again.
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The Trinidad Express talks to former great Shaka Hislop about the Tribute tournament that was played in his name last weekend.
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Greg Seltzer of American Soccer Daily talks to American Lee Nguyen about his return from injury for PSV.
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Seltzer also talks to USA & Hansa Rostock defender Heath Pearce after another tough loss. The team currently sits one place about relegation.
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3 Americans in Europe were in league action last night - how'd it go:
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - dressed by did not get into his teams 2-0 loss at Manchester United.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - started and went 64 minutes of a 2-0 loss at Manchester United.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - played all 90 minutes in defense and won 0-3 at Alemania Aachen.
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Champions League
2 of the Matchday 6 games are being played today. While all the rest will be played in the 11th & 12th. This is so Milan can head off to Japan for the World Club Championship which starts on Thursday.
-Tue Dec 4
Milan v Celtic
Shakhtar Donetsk v Benfica
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One American is playing a match in the Champions League this week:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica at Shakhtar Donetsk - but Benfica have already been eliminated from advancing.
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The Top 5 Teams in each of Europe's Top 4 Leagues:
-Premiership
36 Arsenal
33 Manchester United
31 Chelsea
30 Liverpool
30 Manchester City
-La Liga
32 Real Madrid
28 Barcelona
28 Villareal
27 Atletico Madrid
26 Espanyol
-Serie A
31 Inter Milan
28 Roma
26 Juventus
25 Udinese
24 Fiorentina
-Bundesliga
34 Bayern Munich
33 Werder Bremen
30 Hamburg
27 Bayer Leverkusen
26 Karlsruhe
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Reuters with an article on the state of the game in Kenya.
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Reuters also talks to Holland & Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf who wants to stop fan violence in Italy.
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The New York Times with an article on the return of the top Iraqi football league after 18 months off.
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Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian sees new cream rise to the top of the Romanian league. Yes, Romania has cream.
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Kevin McCarra of the Guardian says that if Milan want to capture the big big headlines then they will have to make themselves much more attractive, like Real Madrid & Barcelona.
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The Guardian also has a story of Lyon in France, who after a change in coach during the offseason, they are finally back on track to steamroll the league and claim a 7th consecutive title. Wow.
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World Soccer has a Q & A with a big fave of du Nord's, Man U & Argentina forward Carlos Tevez aka Modern Man.
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Another big du Nord fave, Samuel Eto'o, has been given the go-ahead by team doctors to get back to live action with Barcelona!
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The Brazilian government has said that they will not spend any money building new stadiums for the 2014 World Cup. So the funds will have to be raised privately I guess.
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Paul Gardner of the New York Sun is mad because not everyone is in love with the Brazilian style of futebol.
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Former Juventus great Gianluca Vialli writing for the Telegraph of London on the differences in football for kids between Italy and England.

Hello My Name Is Anton Chigurh, Call It, News

In no surprise at all France Football awarded Brazil & Milan midfielder Rikki Kaka the Ballon d'Or aka the European Player Of The Year.

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Lanus have captured the Argentine Apertura crown. It is their first title EVER. The club was started 92 years ago. That is one long wait for glory. (see details below)


Steve Davis at Soccernet thinks MLS could be targeting the wrong audience. I have been saying this from Day 1.
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One more piece to check out from the Reuters Summit last week - a video interview with MLS commishnah Don Garber.
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J Hutcherson of the US Soccer Players Assoc looks at the question of MLS's financial stability.
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Long time USA & MLS defender Carlos Llamosa has announced his retirement. He has been with Chivas USA the past 2 seasons but injuries have all but ended his career throughout that whole time.
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Jamie Cardenas of the LA Times on his Korner Pocket blog says the deal for Chivas USA midfielder Francisco Mendoza [CORRECTED] to head back to the mothership in Guadalajara is all but done.
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This Is American Soccer has a first hand fan account on the LA Galaxy visit to Australia.
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Greg Seltzer of American Soccer Daily talks to San Jose GM John Doyle about building his new team from scratch.
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MLS Off-season Friendlies
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Nov 30
T & T Pro League Foreign All-Stars 2-2 FC Dallas - FCD win on PK's - TT goals both by Jonathan Frias. FCD goals by Kenny Cooper & Scott Jones.
-Sat Dec 1
Wellington Phoenix 1-4 Los Angeles Galaxy - Well goal by Ross Aloisi. LA goals by Clint Mathis, Landon Donovan, Carlos Pavon & David Beckham(PK) - he also set up those other three goals.
-Sun Dec 2
T & T Pro League Local All-Stars 1-0 FC Dallas TT goal scorer unknown
Chivas USA 6-0 Mexican Soccer Legends - Chiv goals by Anthony Wallace(4!) & Matt Taylor(2).
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Look at this picture of the goalmouth down in Trinidad & Tobago where Dallas played this weekend. What a joke. (from FC Dallas Updates)
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Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree went down to T & T to watch Dallas play, and has filed these Travel Log's:
Days One and Two
Day Three
Day Four
Match report from TT Foreign All Stars v FCD
Pictures Buzz took on the trip.
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The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle with an article on the serious financial trouble that the Rochester Raging Rhino's are in.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet looks at who he thinks will make up the USA Olympic team.
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The Times of London with a great story on Blackburn's American keeper Brad Friedel, who not surprisingly, is very humble.
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USA U20 Friendlies in Argentina
-The team headed south for 3 games. The first game was supposed to be against Paraguay, but it fell through, so Boca Juniors reserves took the spot.
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Nov 26
Boca Juniors 1-1 USA - USA goal by Amobi Okugo.
-Thu Nov 28
Argentina 1-1 USA - USA goal by Jorge Flores.
-Sat Dec 1
Uruguay 1-0 USA
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USA U17 at the Nike Friendlies
-The annual December tournament in Bradenton Florida.
-All 3 USA games can be seen on Fox Soccer Channel.
Matches & Scores
-Thu Dec 6
USA v Russia - live at 2pm central on FSC
-Sat Dec 8
USA v Brazil - live at 1:30pm central on FSC
-Sun Dec 9
USA v Turkey - delayed at 7pm central on FSC
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USA Soccer has more details on the Nike Friendlies.
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NCAA Quarterfinals
-Down to the quarterfinals now, with games to be played next weekend. The big upset was unheralded Bradley beat perennial favorites Maryland. Defending champs UC Santa Barbara were beaten by Ohio State in extra time, and 3 unseeded teams made it to the last eight.
Matches & Scores - with seeds included:
-Dec 7, 8 or 9 (exact dates tbd)
Massachusetts(none) v Illinois-Chicago(none)
Ohio State(5) v Bradley(none)
Connecticut(3) v Virginia Tech(11)
Notre Dame(10) v Wake Forest(2)
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Americans in Europe - how'd their recent matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on in the 79th minute of the huge match v Porto but lost 0-1 at home.
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - out with a serious knee injury. Will be on the shelf for a good long time, sadly.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - played all 90 minutes but drew 0-0 at home to Paderborn.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - play at Manchester United on Monday night.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - started and went the distance as usual in a 1-0 win over Nijmegen.
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - captained his team back from a 0-3 hole to win 5-3 over Lyngby.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played all 90 minutes of a 0-3 road win at Hansa Rostock.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - started and played 77 minutes in a 1-1 home tie with Middlesbrough.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played the entire match in a 1-2 home loss to Bristol City.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - play at Manchester United on Monday night.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - did not dress for his teams 1-0 loss at Sunderland. They now sit in last place.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - in the goal as always and led his team to a 3-1 home win over Newcastle.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - started in the goal as always, but could only tie 1-1 at home to Middlesbrough.
-Tim Howard - Everton - played the entire match as usual and drew 0-0 at Portsmouth.
-Ian Joy - St Pauli - went the distance in a 3-4 home loss to Kaiserslautern.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - did not dress for his teams 1-0 loss at Sunderland. They now sit in last place.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played all 90 at centerback as usual and tied 0-0 at Anderlecht.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - came on at half time, but lost 0-3 at home to Hannover.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - played the entire match in a 1-2 home loss to Colchester.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on in the 79th minute in the midfield, but lost 1-0 at Chelsea.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - play at home v Alemannia Aachen on Monday night.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - played all 90 minutes but drew 0-0 at home to Paderborn.
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Aalborg and American captain Dan Califf begin their Danish league winter break in first place!
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An injury update from Fulham, with news on Brian McBride, Kasey Keller, and former Columbus Crew midfielder Simon Elliot (remember him?). (thanks to BQ for this)
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Copa Sudamericana Final
-Fri Nov 30 - First Leg
Club America 2-3 Arsenal de Sarandi - Amer goals by Salvador Cabanas & Alejandro Arguello. Ars goals by Anibal Matellan & Alejandro Dario Gomez(2).
-Wed Dec 5 - Second Leg
Arsenal v America
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Mexican Premiera Playoffs
Semifinal Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 28
Guadalajara 1-0 Atlante - goal by Ramon Morales.
-Thu Nov 29
UNAM Pumas 3-0 Santos Laguna - goals by Ignacio Scocco(2) & Hector Moreno.
-Sat Dec 1
Atlante 1-0 Guadalajara - tied 1-1 on aggregate, Atlante advance by being the higher seeded team. Atl goal by Giancarlo Maldonado.
-Sun Dec 2
Santos Laguna 4-2 UNAM Pumas - UNAM Pumas advance 5-4 on agg. Sant goals by Emmanuel Luduena(3) & Matias Vuoso. Pum goals by Carlos Gonzalez & Ignacio Scocco.
Final Matches & Scores:
- Wed Dec 5
UNAM Pumas v Atlante - TV tba
- Sat Dec 8
Atlante v UNAM Pumas - TV tba
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Argentina
Lanus have captured the championship on Sunday!
-Final Points Standings:
38 Lanus
34 Tigre
31 Boca Juniors
30 Argentinos Juniors
29 Banfield
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 28
Tigre 2-1 Boca Juniors
Lanus 4-0 Gimnasia
-Sat Dec 2
Boca Juniors 1-1 Lanus
Argentinos Juniors 1-0 Tigre
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Big Euro match scores from this weekend:
Chelsea 1-0 West Ham - the result you would expect.
Espanyol 1-1 Barcelona - in a sense, the both lose.
Milan 0-0 Juventus - without all 3, both fall further behind league leaders Inter.
Werder Bremen 2-1 Hamburger - with the win Bremen stay on the tail of leaders Bayern, just one point back, with Hamburg 3rd and 4 points back.
Benfica 0-1 Porto - Porto opened up a 7 point lead over 2nd place Benfica.
Fiorentina 0-2 Inter - first place Inter were dominant on the score sheet, and solid with the defense.
Roma 2-1 Udinese - the win helps the Romans keep pace with the leaders.
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Champions League
2 of the Matchday 6 games are being played on Tue Dec 4. While all the rest will be played in the 11th & 12th.
-Tue Dec 4
Milan v Celtic
Shakhtar Donetsk v Benfica
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One American is playing a match in the Champions League this week:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica at Shakhtar Donetsk - but Benfica have already been eliminated from advancing.
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Ballon d'Or Voting results:
1 Kaka - AC Milan
2 Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United FC
3 Lionel Messi - FC Barcelona
4 Didier Drogba - Chelsea FC
5 Andrea Pirlo - AC Milan
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with the winner Kaka.
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Reuters with a list of all the winners from 1956 to now.
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A writer for Canada's CBC took in the recent Rome derby (Roma v Lazio) and has this report from the grudge match.
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The Insider at Soccernet goes to Stamford Bridge to see Chelsea beat cross town rival West Ham. The biggest rave of the day is for Drogba. Always a good read from The Insider.
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Kaizer Chiefs won the South African League Cup final on Saturday.
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In Spain, 19th place Real Betis have fired coach Hector Cuper.
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Phil Ball of Soccernet looks at homegrown talent and recaps La Liga.
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2 years ago Carlos Tevez & Javier Macherano led Corinthians to the Brazilian title. What a long time ago that must seem to the teams fans.... They were relegated yesterday.
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Football Italia rounds up the winners and the losers from Week 14 of the Serie A season.
-The most amazing stat of the weekend is that AC Milan have now gone 9 league home matches without a win. You cannot win any titles that way.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune ponders a mystery - why is Milan having so much trouble scoring goals?
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The Guardian with their regular great Monday round up from Europe’s top leagues/countries:
-Sid Lowe - Spain - on the Catalan derby, the Catalan people, and La Liga.
-Raphael Honigstein - Germany - the country's feelings on the draw for Euro 08 - and - will Luka Modric of Croatia be able to tear them apart? He also raves about Franck Ribery, Rafael Van Der Vaart & Diego, foreigners who are starring in die Bundesliga.
-Paolo Bandini - Italy - are Inter stoppable? I have to ask though, isn't it a little early to declare it over? Anything can happen between now and May. Please.
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2 stories from Germany's De Spiegel, the first on a new Europol investigation into match-fixing in Europe (which could get very serious), and the second on the nurturing of young stars like Lionel Messi.
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Simon Kuper at the Financial Times writes about the co-host of Euro 08 - Switzerland. He says it's definitely NOT a football country. Can they pull the tournament off? Will they even care?
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A couple of really good stories from Reuters:
-Serbia decides to get tough with violent soccer fans.
-South American Street Football - it's not about the winning.
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Finally, our favorite German who plays defense for Fulham, Moritz Volz, with his latest words of wisdom from the Times of London.

The Draw For Euro 08

The official draw was held on Sunday.

Here are the 4 groups for next summers European Championship.
A:
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Portugal
Turkey
B:
Austria
Croatia
Germany
Poland
C:
Netherlands
Italy
Romania
France
D:
Greece
Sweden
Spain
Russia

The opening game will be played on Sat Jun 7 in Basel, Switzerland.
And the final game will be played on Sun Jun 29 in Wien (Vienna), Austria.

All the matches will be shown live on the ESPN network of channels.

Disco Lay-day News

Nearly two weeks ago there was a Q & A with MLS Commissioner Don Garber in the New York Times done by Jack Bell. I don't think this interview has gotten nearly enough attention. There is a lot of important stuff in here. If you are a MLS fan, this is a must read.

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The Copa Sudamericana final series starts tonight. It's America of Mexico v Arsenal of Argentina. Should be a great match up. The second leg in next Wednesday. See details below.


MLSnet has produced a list of their favorite games of the 2007 season, with video highlights to back it up. Great viewing.
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Absolutely no-one was selected yesterday in the MLS waiver draft. Not too surprising really. See yesterday's du Nord for the list of players available.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog gives us the low down on a change in the "foreign player" rules for MLS next season (it's a very positive couple of moves), and the latest on DC United's contract negotiations with midfielder extraordinaire Christian Gomez.
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Jozy Altidore with his newest blog entry for the New York Times Goal. He writes about Europe, or rather doesn't, and the USA Olympic team which is training right now in Los Angeles.
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2 more guest bloggers at Luis Arroyave's Red Card blog: a player from a Chicago indoor league team, and another Chicago Tribune writer who is a big Fire fan.
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Have I told you how surprisingly good I think Marcelo Balboa's radio show in Denver is. You can listen to it at the link in the right column under Podcasts. He gets really good guests, and they ask real questions. I seriously suggest you listen in.
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MLSnet with a story on Dallas forward Kenny Cooper who is working on his college degree at SMU during his free time.
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Wellington New Zealand let kids out of schools today to go watch the Galaxy practice. over 16,000 of them turned up to watch. Video here.
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The latest design of Red Bull Park. Most impressive.
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J Hutcherson of the US Soccer Players Assoc gives his thoughts on the significance of the re-design of Red Bull Park – mainly removing the concert stage. Remember though, Home Depot Center doesn't have a stage either.
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Reuters with more from MLS's Don Garber, today he and other top American sports executives talk about the strong health of their leagues even in a shaky economy.
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Greg Lalas at Goal.com with his latest column: The 3-5-2.
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Ben Knight at the Toronto Globe & Mail On Soccer blog goes through MLS team by team and examines their team name. I think he gets two things wrong, one we shouldn't have any teams called FC cuz we don't call it Football, we call it Soccer (hi there Joe). And two, he doesn't seem to understand where the Kansas City nickname Wizards comes from. It's the Wizard of Oz and Kansas dude. Otherwise, I like all the thoughts on those names.
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An English woman from BellaOnline tries to describe the inner workings of MLS to her fellow non-Americans. Interesting.
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MLS Off-season Friendlies
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Nov 29
Fresno Fuego 3-1 Chivas USA
Match report from the Fresno Bee.
-Fri Nov 30
T & T Pro League Foreign All-Stars v FC Dallas - Shaka Hislop Tribute tournament in Trinidad & Tobago
-Sat Dec 1
Wellington Phoenix v Los Angeles Galaxy - in New Zealand
-Sun Dec 2
T & T Pro League Local All-Stars v FC Dallas - Shaka Hislop Tribute tournament in Trinidad & Tobago
Chivas USA v Mexican Soccer Legends - Benefit match for flood victims in Tabasco & Chiapas.
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The Trinidad & Tobago Express gives us the latest on the Shaka Hislop Tribute tournament.
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The latest official news on Dallas' trip to T&T from the FC Dallas Updates site. Including a story about the strong earthquake that hit the Caribbean yesterday (video of coaches & players talking about it).
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FC Dallas Updates also has some video of their guys recreating Paul Caligiuri's "shot heard round the world" goal that happened in Trinidad & Tobago.
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Dallas and the TT Pro League have also begun an official agreement to work together to develop teams and players etc.
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MLS & SUM officially announced the Pan-Pacific tournament yesterday. Here is the video press conference. If you didn't read about this tournament a couple weeks ago here on du Nord then just watch this. Here is the official website. Another thing that I found to be pretty humorous is that the sponsor of the tournament is a Japanese company called MLJ that makes totally blinged-out car rims. I didn't see that one being affiliated with soccer in America any time soon, but I guess that time is now.
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MLS/Generation Adidas team in Spain
Matches & Scores
-Mon Nov 25
Rayo Vallecano Reserves 0-1 MLS-GA
-Thu Nov 29
Real Madrid Reserves 0-0 MLS-GA
This is a team that is traveling across Spain playing matches right now. All the players are from the leagues special Generation Adidas program. (see Tuesday's edition of du Nord for team roster)
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USL 2nd Division announces their league format for 2008.
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Rangers FC have confirmed the worst for USA & Rangers midfielder DaMarcus Beasley - his knee is badly damaged. He is headed home to the USA to have the surgery. They don't expect him back this season. Damn it!
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Yanks Abroad with an article pondering the significance of Real Madrid courting a young American potential star player.
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USA U20 Friendlies in Argentina
for 3 games. But their first game got canceled. So they set up another one with Boca Juniors U20's. The tied 1-1. Amobi Okugo got the USA goal.
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Nov 26
Boca Juniors 1-1 USA - USA goal by Amobi Okugo.
-Thu Nov 28
Argentina 1-1 USA - USA goal by Jorge Flores.
-Sat Dec 1
Uruguay v USA
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Jorge Flores who scored that goal for the USA U20's against Argentina is the kid who won the reality TV show contest to play for Chivas USA last spring! This guy is for real! What an amazing story! I guess these kinds of player are out there. I love it.
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The semifinalists have been announced for the 2007 Hermann Trophy. This is the Player Of The Year award for college. Included on the list is Joseph Lapira who won it last year.
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Doug McIntyre of Soccernet previews the NCAA round of 16 games being played this weekend. See du Nord update from the last couple of days for the bracket.
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The Peoria Journal Star in Illinois with an article on their local college team Bradley, and their former player, now defender for DC United - Brian Namoff.
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Copa Sudamericana Final
-Fri Nov 30 - First Leg
Club America v Arsenal de Sarandi
-Wed Dec 5 - Second Leg
Arsenal v America
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Mexican Premiera Playoffs
-Semifinal Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 28
Guadalajara 1-0 Atlante - goal by Ramon Morales.
-Thu Nov 29
UNAM Pumas 3-0 Santos Laguna - goals by Ignacio Scocco(2) & Hector Moreno.
-Sat Dec 1
Atlante v Guadalajara - 9pm central on TeleFutura
-Sun Dec 2
Santos Laguna v UNAM Pumas - 5pm central on Azteca America
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The Bermuda Sun talks to their national team coach Keith Tucker about the current state of his team. The play Cayman Islands in the first round of World Cup Qualifying next February.
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Argentine Apertura
Now with 1 game left in the season, it's down to two teams battling for the title, and it will end on Saturday:
37 Lanus
34 Tigre
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 28
Tigre 2-1 Boca Juniors
Lanus 4-0 Gimnasia
-Sat Dec 2
Boca Juniors v Lanus
Argentinos Juniors v Tigre
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UEFA Cup - Matchday 3
-Thu Nov 29
Zenit 2-2 Nurnberg
AZ Alkmaar 1-0 Larissa
Lokomotiv Moskva 0-1 Kobenhavn
Atletico Madrid 2-0 Aberdeen
Elfsborg 1-3 Mlad Boleslav
AEK 1-1 Fiorentina
Hamburg 3-0 Rennes
Brann 2-1 Dinamo Zagreb
Sparta Praha 0-0 Spartak Moskva
Zurich 2-0 Toulouse
Braga 1-1 Bayern Munich
Bolton 1-1 Aris
Getafe 1-2 Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Tottenham 3-2 Aalborg
Panionios 0-3 Galatasaray
Helsingborg 3-0 Austria Wien
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Here are the UEFA Cup group standings after 3 of 5 rounds.
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Three Americans are playing matches in the UEFA Cup:
-Dan Califf - Aalborg - played all 90 minutes as team captain but lost 3-2 at Tottenham.
-Ramiro Corrales - Brann - started and went the distance in a 2-1 home win over Dinamo Zagreb.
-Tim Howard - team had a buy this round.
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Big Euro matches this weekend:
-Sat Dec 1
Chelsea v West Ham - another of the many London derbies that always seem to work.
Espanyol v Barcelona - the Barcelona derby!
Milan v Juventus - one of the great old wars.
Werder Bremen v Hamburger - #2 v #3 in die Bundesliga.
Benfica v Porto - a very big one in Portugal, with #2 hosting #1.
-Sun Dec 2
Fiorentina v Inter - top of the table battle.
Roma v Udinese - #3 v #4 in Serie A.
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The English tabloid rumor mill is churning with word that American Tom Hicks is already prepared to sell his stock in Liverpool due to disagreements with manager Rafael Benetiz. This story sounds like a complete joke to me.
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The Daily Mail of England talks to Sunderland coach & Man U/Ireland legend Roy Keane about the 7-1 pasting they took last weekend at Everton. It's a feeling Keane has never experienced before.
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Marcela Mora y Araujo of the Guardian raves about the return of THE #10 shirt to Boca Juniors - Juan Roman Riquelme.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Mohamed Abdalah, coach of the Sudan national team.
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Simon Kuper of the Financial Times with articles on 2 different countries who will be represented next summer in the European Championship: Host Switzerland and defending champs Greece. Plus a third story on his personal reminiscences of Euro's past.
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Football Italia talks to Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu about his team, his season so far and his teammate Christian Vieri.
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Goal.com's Starting XI: The Most Exotic Stadiums In The World. Too bad they didn't include pictures of all of them, almost a useless list without the images. But I guess I can go look em up. I would add two stadiums to that list - Allianz Arena in Munich, and the Chocolate Box in Buenos Aires. There is a third stadium that I have seen pictures of that looks ancient and is set in amazing vista, but I can't remember what it's called or if it's in Spain or Portugal so no use including it. I bet there is some amazing stadium in Transylvania too. Don't know why I think that, just do.
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South Africa has not included forward Benni McCarthy on there African Nations Cup roster. I would assume you will see several players with big European contracts to skip this tournament. I am curious to see which big names demand to go home and play for their country!
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Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka & Lionel Messi are the 3 finalists for the FIFA World Player Of The Year.

Brunch At Krakatoa News

Ball Meets Face


Reuters has more with MLS honcho Don Garber today. This time they talk about cell phone & wireless device content.
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More than a handful of MLS players have been left off their teams roster and will be fair game for other teams in the league to snap up today in yet another draft. The 2 most prominent names on that list are: Ramon Nunez - Chivas USA & Carlos Pavon - LA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger gives us an update on Red Bull Park. Are they really gonna start building the thing next week? That is the word, but then again so is "grease".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Toronto Star checks in on what TFC coach Mo Johnston is up to right now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle on why the Dynamo are great off the field as well as on.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The San Jose Mercury with a report on SJ coach Frank Yallop hiring his first assistant coach - his former player Ian Russell.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated writes that San Jose is also trying to lure 3 American's home from Europe: Ramiro Corrales, Dan Califf & Kamani Hill.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Updates from FC Dallas on their trip to Trinidad & Tobago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
MLSnet reviews the past season of the Colorado Rapids. And asks 5 big questions for next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
And MLSnet reviews the past season of the Chicago Fire. And asks 5 big questions for next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Washington Post says that DC United are looking in Prince George's County at 2 possible sites for their new stadium. In this article it states that team owner Victor MacFarlane said they are losing $10 million a season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
MLS Off-season Friendlies
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Nov 29
Fresno Fuego v Chivas USA
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The USL First Division will play with 11 teams this season, and alter some of their league formats. All the details here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Lots more upsets last night in the NCAA Championship tournament. The top seeded team Boston College were knocked out. Here is the full bracket. Third round games will happen this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Glasgow Evening Standard reports that DaMarcus Beasley's knee injury is bad. They speculate that it's real bad. but let's wait for confirmation on this one.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet reviews USA coach Bob Bradley's first year in charge.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Andrew Wiebe of the Daily Kansan looks ahead at the qualifying path to the 2010 World Cup for the USA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
American Soccer Daily with an article on Kamani Hill who is no longer wanted by Wolfsburg and will need to find a new home in the January transfer window. He says he does not want to play in MLS right now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
ASD also talks to Benny Feilhaber about Derby's new manager Paul Jewell.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Steven Goff of the Washington Post with his as usual excellent notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
USA U20 team is in Argentina for 3 games. But their first game got canceled. So they set up another one with Boca Juniors U20’s. The tied 1-1. Amobi Okugo got the USA goal.
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Nov 26
Boca Juniors 1-1 USA
-Thu Nov 28
Argentina v USA
-Sat Dec 1
Uruguay v USA
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The FIFA Club World Cup starts December 7 and ends on the 16th in Japan. Much more on this next week. Here are the teams: Etoile Sportive du Sahel, Urawa Red Diamonds, AC Milan, Pachuca & Boca Juniors. Sepahan & Waitakere United will start the tournament. Here is the bracket.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Champions League - Matchday 5
-Tue Nov 27
#Stuttgart 3-2 Rangers - Stut goals by Cacau, Pavel Pardo & Ciprian Marica. Ran goals by Charlie Adam & Barry Ferguson.
Lyon 2-2 *Barcelona - Lyon goals both by Juninho Pernambucano (1 via PK). Barc goals by Andres Iniesta & Lionel Messi(PK).
#Dynamo Kyiv 1-4 *Roma - Dyn goal by Ismael Bangoura. Roma goals by Christian Panucci, Ludovic Giuly & 2 by Mirko Vucinic.
*Manchester United 2-1 #Sporting - Man U goals by Carlos Tevez & Cristiano Ronaldo. Spor goal by Abel.
#CSKA Moskva 0-1 PSV Eindhoven - goal by Jefferson Farfan.
*Inter Milan 3-0 Fenerbahce - goal by Julio Cruz, Zlatan Ibrahimovic & Luis Antonio Jimenez.
*Sevilla 3-1 *Arsenal - Sev goals by Seydou Keita, Luis Fabiano & Frederic Kanoute(PK). Arse goal by Eduardo da Silva.
#Steaua Bucuresti 1-1 #Slavia Praha - Stea goal by Valentin Badea. Slav goal by Zdenek Senkerik.
-Wed Nov 28
Besiktas 2-1 Marseille - Bes goals by Rodrigo Tello & Bobo. Mars goal by Taye Taiwo.
Liverpool 4-1 Porto - Liv goals by Fernando Torres(2), Steven Gerrard(pk) & Peter Crouch.
Rosenborg 0-4 *Chelsea - Chel goals by Didier Drogba(2), Alex & Joe Cole.
Valencia 0-0 Schalke
Werder Bremen 3-2 Real Madrid - Brem goals by Markus Rosenborg, Boubacar Sanogo & Aaron Hunt. Mad goals by Robinho & Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
Lazio 1-2 Olympiakos - Laz goal by Goran Pandev. Oly goal by Luciano Galletti & Darko Kovacevic.
#Benfica 1-1 *Milan - Ben goal by Maxi Pereira. Mil goal by Andrea Pirlo.
Celtic 2-1 Shakhtar Donetsk - Cel goals by Jiri Jarosik & Massimo Donati. Shak goal by Brandao.
*Advanced
#Elimidated
-Chelsea & Milan join Barcelona, Roma, Inter, Sevilla, Man U & Arsenal as the teams qualified for the knock out stages. The remaining 8 spots are still up for grabs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
CL Group Standings.
-Groups A & C will be the most exciting on Matchday 6 as all 4 teams are capable of advancing on the last day! Very cool.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Two Americans are playing matches in the Champions League:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came off the bench very late to try and help steal the win, but only played 2+ minutes in the 1-1 draw. Unfortunately this one point means that his team has been eliminated from the CL.
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - started and put in the corner for his teams second goal, but was injured in the 49th minute and replaced as they lost 3-2 at Stuttgart.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune recaps yesterdays CL matches, and focuses on Liverpool coach Rafa Benitez's feud with the team owners.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Mexican Premiera Playoffs
-Semifinal Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 28
Guadalajara 1-0 Atlante - goal by Ramon Morales.
-Thu Nov 29
UNAM Pumas v Santos Laguna - 9pm central on Galavision
-Sat Dec 1
Atlante v Guadalajara - 9pm central on TeleFutura
-Sun Dec 2
Santos Laguna v UNAM Pumas - 5pm central on Azteca America
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Argentine Apertura
Now with 1 game left in the season, it's down to two teams battling for the title, and it will end on Saturday:
37 Lanus
34 Tigre
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 28
Tigre 2-1 Boca Juniors
Lanus 4-0 Gimnasia
-Sat Dec 2
Boca Juniors v Lanus
Argentinos Juniors v Tigre
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
UEFA Cup - Matchday 3
-Thu Nov 29
Zenit v Nurnberg
AZ Alkmaar v Larissa
Lokomotiv Moskva v Kobenhavn
Atletico Madrid v Aberdeen
Elfsborg v Mlad Boleslav
AEK v Fiorentina
Hamburg v Rennes
Brann v Dinamo Zagreb
Sparta Praha v Spartak Moskva
Zurich v Toulouse
Braga v Bayern Munich
Bolton v Aris
Getafe v Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Tottenham v Aalborg
Panionios v Galatasaray
Helsingborg v Austria Wien
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Three Americans are playing matches in the UEFA Cup:
-Dan Califf - Aalborg - at Tottenham
-Ramiro Corrales - Brann - v Dinamo Zagreb
-Tim Howard - team has this round off.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Four more Americans played league matches in England & Germany last night:
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - back from the knee injury, he played all 90 minutes but they lost 1-2 at home to Burnley.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - played as usual in goal, but something must have gone dramatically wrong as they lost 0-4 at home to Aston Villa. Wow.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - went the full 90 and won 1-0 over Barnsley.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - got the usual start and played the whole of a 0-0 road draw at Kaiserslautern.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Guardian is running a series of photo-shopped images of what the England players will be doing next summer when the rest of the best in Europe will be playing in the Euro championship. For whatever reason this image, and especially Wayne Rooney had me laughing very very hard.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Guardian also has the story on the arrest of Portsmouth coach Harry Rednapp for financial corruption ie. under the table payoffs to agents & players for contracts. Happy Harry says he is completely innocent. They also arrested the teams former American owner Milan Mandaric, and current chief executive Peter Storrie.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Interesting note: There were more Scots than English playing in the Champions League this week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
World Soccer has an article of the power & prestige of AC Milan under owner Silvio Berlusconi. Via Sports Illustrated.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Juvenutus' patron, Lapo Elkann, has ripped Inter, saying their winning the Serie A title last year was a fake. This coming from a man who's team has been convicted of buying league titles. Hahahahahahahahaha.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The New York Times Goal blog with an article on Ronaldo's (and his new hairdo) return to the AC Milan lineup. But reports from Italy this morning say he may have injured a calf muscle now.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
France Football magazine's Ballon d'Or will be handed out on Sunday. This is the award for European Footballer Of The Year. It's no secret that Rikki Kaka of Milan will be named the winner. I am OK with that, even though he is second or third best behind Cristiano Ronaldo & Lionel Messi, Kaka is still very special.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Jonah Freedman at Sports Illustrated with the World Club Soccer Power Rankings. I am happy about #1, but I disagree. I say it's the Arse.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
And finally today, Mike Collett of Reuters says that we should expect something "spectacular" awaiting us in South Africa for the WC2010. I can't wait.

Leopard In The Sand News

DaMarcus Beasley was injured in Rangers Champions League match at Stuttgart last night. Rangers coach Walter Smith comments: "DaMarcus Beasley looks like he has quite a serious (knee) injury, but we're not quite certain what it is yet."
-The Glasgow Evening Times fears its ligament damage to his right knee. With quotes from DMB.

~and~

Portsmouth manager Harry "bobblehead" Rednapp has been arrested by London police as part of the investigation in to financial corruption in the English Football Association! Wow.

~and~

The poster for the 2010 South Africa World Cup has been released. It's as classy as I had hoped, and much better than the stuff we have had at the last few WC's. (thanks to BQ for this)

~and~

I have been very vocal in saying that MLS should double their salary cap. I am not saying they should go wild and take all the reigns off, because I firmly believe in steady-as-we-go, but they are only raising it 4% for next year. 2.25 Million per team for 2008. Simply not enough.


Frank Dell'apa at Soccernet says the idea of the style of head coaches is changing in MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two more guest bloggers on the Red Card blog: USA & Watford defender Jay DeMerit with more of his always great stuff & some dude who works at the Chicago Tribune & suffers mightily as a Newcastle fan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dave Lifton at the US Soccer Players Assoc does a Q & A with former USA & MLS great (now retired) Eddie Pope.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

George Tanner at FC Rocky reports that Colorado's Mexican international Daniel Osorno has retired. Didn't he do that before last season?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Metrofanatic with a rumor that defender Jorge Francisco Vargas of Chile is headed to New York, via the sister club in Austria. Let's hope he is not as old and worn out as Marcus Schopp was.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Metrofanatic also gives us the hotlist of candidates for the Red Bull coaching job, and there is a name on it that I had no heard before.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters talks to MLS goomba Don Garber about the Beckham deal, and what it has already brought to the league. [LINK CORRECTED] Plus he talks about what the near future holds for foreign signings. Good stuff. Too bad he didn't say these things at the Supporters Summit on MLS weekend - he was lame at that and looked like it was the last place on earth he wanted to be.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kenn Tomasch at kenn.com blog has a Q & A with Dr. Joe Machnik who is in charge of "On-Field Competition" for MLS. I think this means he deals with the referees.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune looks at the fading chances of landing a MLS in that city [LINK CORRECTED].
-Plus his weekly Sidelines
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS/Generation Adidas team in Spain
Matches & Scores
-Mon Nov 25
Rayo Vallecano Reserves 0-1 MLS-GA
-Fri Nov 30
Real Madrid Reserves v MLS-GA
This is a team that is traveling across Spain playing matches right now. All the players are from the leagues special Generation Adidas program. (see Tuesday's edition of du Nord for team roster)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Off-season Friendlies
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Nov 30
T & T Pro League Foreign All-Stars v FC Dallas - Shaka Hislop Tribute tournament in Trinidad & Tobago
-Sat Dec 1
Wellington Phoenix v Los Angeles Galaxy - in New Zealand
-Sun Dec 2
T & T Pro League Local All-Stars v FC Dallas - Shaka Hislop Tribute tournament in Trinidad & Tobago
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC Dallas Updates has the teams roster that will be traveling to play in T & T.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The USA U23 team will gather in LA on Saturday to begin their first preparations for Olympic qualifying next spring. 22 players are on the roster coached by Petr Nowak, and they will conclude this camp with 2 games in China on December 13 & 16. Very few of the young Europe based players were called in because they are in season. So will any of them be released for the qualifiers? I bet it will be tough to get some of them.
-Roster:
G:
Zac MacMath - Clearwater Chargers
Chris Seitz - Salt Lake
D:
Hunter Freeman - New York
Patrick Ianni - Houston
Jon Leathers - Furman
Mike Randolph - Los Angeles
Nathan Sturgis - Salt Lake
Tim Ward - Columbus
Marvell Wynne - Toronto
M:
Arturo Alvarez - Dallas
Maurice Edu - Toronto
Eddie Gaven - Columbus
Michael Harrington - Kansas City
Stuart Holden - Houston
Sacha Kljestan - Chivas USA
Dax McCarty - Dallas
F:
Josmer Altidore - New York
Adam Cristman - New England
Charlie Davies - Hammarby
Robbie Findley - Salt Lake
Robbie Rogers - Columbus
Sal Zizzo - Hannover
-There is only 1 college player on this team, and interestingly enough he is the only one who I don't know. Can anyone tell us more about Jon Leathers, beside the fact that his name rocks!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Former Wigan manager Paul Jewell has been named new boss at Derby for Americans Eddie Lewis & Benny Feilhaber.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Bermuda Sun talks to local talent Khano Smith of the New England Revs about his countries chances in World Cup qualifying.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Champions League - Matchday 5
-Tue Nov 27
#Stuttgart 3-2 Rangers - Stut goals by Cacau, Pavel Pardo & Ciprian Marica. Ran goals by Charlie Adam & Barry Ferguson.
Lyon 2-2 *Barcelona - Lyon goals both by Juninho Pernambucano (1 via PK). Barc goals by Andres Iniesta & Lionel Messi(PK).
#Dynamo Kyiv 1-4 *Roma - Dyn goal by Ismael Bangoura. Roma goals by Christian Panucci, Ludovic Giuly & 2 by Mirko Vucinic.
*Manchester United 2-1 #Sporting - Man U goals by Carlos Tevez & Cristiano Ronaldo. Spor goal by Abel.
#CSKA Moskva 0-1 PSV Eindhoven - goal by Jefferson Farfan.
*Inter Milan 3-0 Fenerbahce - goal by Julio Cruz, Zlatan Ibrahimovic & Luis Antonio Jimenez.
*Sevilla 3-1 *Arsenal - Sev goals by Seydou Keita, Luis Fabiano & Frederic Kanoute(PK). Arse goal by Eduardo da Silva.
#Steaua Bucuresti 1-1 #Slavia Praha - Stea goal by Valentin Badea. Slav goal by Zdenek Senkerik.
-Wed Nov 28
Besiktas v Marseille
Liverpool v Porto - 1:30pm central on Setanta
Rosenborg v Chelsea - 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Valencia v Schalke
Werder Bremen v Real Madrid - 4pm central on ESPN Classic
Lazio v Olympiakos - 4pm central on Setanta
Benfica v Milan
Celtic v Shakhtar Donetsk
*Advance
#Elimidated
-So, Barcelona, Roma, Inter & Sevilla join Man U & Arsenal as the team qualified for the knock out stages, leaving only 2 spots left to fight over in these 4 groups.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Did ya see that look on Cristiano Ronaldo's face when he nailed that free kick in stoppage time to with the CL match for Man U yesterday. Wow. What a shot. What an expression. Video clip here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune with his views on yesterdays Champions League action. He was impressed by that young Serbian kid, Bojan Krkic at Barcelona.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two Americans are playing matches in the Champions League:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - v Milan
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - started and put in the corner for his teams second goal, but was injured in the 49th minute and replaced as they lost 3-2 at Stuttgart.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexican Premiera Playoffs
-Semifinal Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 28
Guadalajara v Atlante - 9pm central on TeleFutura
-Thu Nov 29
UNAM Pumas v Santos Laguna - 9pm central on Galavision
-Sat Dec 1
Atlante v Guadalajara - 9pm central on TeleFutura
-Sun Dec 2
Santos Laguna v UNAM Pumas - 5pm central on Azteca America
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Argentine Apertura
With 2 games left in the season, three team battle for the title, and it could be all over by Wednesday night:
34 Lanus
31 Tigre
30 Boca Juniors
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 28
Tigre v Boca Juniors
Lanus v Gimnasia
-Sat Dec 2
Boca Juniors v Lanus
Argentinos Juniors v Tigre
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup games tomorrow, and I will have details then.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Saudi Arabian striker and national team captain Yasser Al Qahtani, who plays for Al Hilal in SA, was named Asian Player Of The Year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

David Conn at the Guardian talks to UEFA Pres Michel Platini, who feels there is a serious crisis right around the corner for English football. Platini is also anti-big business/football. I understand many of the points here, but it’s like the record companies complaining about digitized music files. It’s too late to "fix" it. The genie is out of the bottle, there is no putting the cork back in.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mike Woitalla of Soccer America examines the South African team that just faced the USA (0-1 loss) & Canada (2-0 win) in friendlies.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Finally some things are making some sense in the Juan Roman Riquelme transfer saga - he will leave Villareal for Boca Juniors in the January transfer window. So you can forget about him playing in the World Club Championship next month.

We See Very Little News

Fox Soccer Channel will show a feature on the Houston Dynamo and their back to back MLS Cup wins - Dynamo Dynasty. The debut airing is Thu Nov 29 at 10pm central.

~and~

Over 24,000 tickets have already been sold for USA v Mexico in Houston on Feb 6.

~and~

Here is the guy who wants to buy the Houston Dynamo. (thank you, thank you, thank you Joe)

~and~

Seattle season ticket sales have now passed the 8000 mark.


Steve Davis at Soccernet gives us the top 5 stories to follow this MLS off-season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC Dallas assistant coach Oscar Pareja has left the team to join the new staff at the USA U17 Residency program in Bradenton. The team has named their other assistants to coach Wilmer Cabrera as well: Brian Maisonneuve (returning), Paul Caffrey & Paul Grafer.
-Pareja posted a note to team, staff, fans etc. on the FC Dallas Updates blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Buzz Carrick at 3rd Degree takes in a Dallas practice session this week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America looks at the players San Jose has picked up so far, and some news out of Columbus on players being released.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Kansas City Kansan with a story on the re-jigging going on at the new home of the Wizards.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Today's New York Red Bull coaching search rumor has them chasing after Chivas USA boss Preki.
-Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times covers the story.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dallas midfielder Arturo Alvarez has been in France on trial at Bordeaux.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Houston forward Joseph Ngwenya is in Germany on trial at Alemannia Aachen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave's Red Card blog has Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz of RedEye as the non-soccer-fan soccer fan as today's guest blogger.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Bradley at MLSnet uses the First XI to Give Thanks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS with a series of stories on what the teams in the league need to do this offseason to improve their standing. They start with Toronto.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS & Adidas has put together a team that is traveling across Spain playing matches right now. All the players are from the leagues special Generation Adidas program.
-Their first match was last night against Rayo Vallecano Reserves. MLSGA won it 0-1 on a Nate Sturgis goal.
-The next match is against Real Madrid Reserves.
-Roster:
G:
Chris Seitz
D:
Hunter Freeman
Patrick Ianni
Amaechi Igwe
Tim Ward
Marvell Wynne
Jed Zayner
M:
Nico Colaluca
Bakary Soumare
Nathan Sturgis
F:
David Arvizu
Chad Barrett
Kei Kamara
Jacob Petersen
Willie Sims
-Coaches:
Dominic Kinnear
John Spencer
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Off-season Friendlies
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Nov 27
Sydney 5-3 LA Galaxy - 80,000 attended the match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Seltzer talks to young American winger Sal Zizzo about his still early days at Hannover.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno at the Sideline Views blog gives us all the dates in 2008 & 2009 for CONCACAF World Cup qualifying matches.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at the North Jersey Herald News says the USA path to South Africa should be a simple straight-forward one.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger on the same qualifying topic.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Trinidad & Tobago's Newsday with an article on this weekends Shaka Hislop Tribute tournament, featuring FC Dallas & others.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Champions League - Matchday 5
-Tue Nov 27
#Stuttgart v Rangers
Lyon v Barcelona - 4pm central on ESPN Classic
#Dynamo Kyiv v Roma
*Manchester United v Sporting - 1:30pm central on ESPN2
#CSKA Moskva v PSV Eindhoven
Inter Milan v Fenerbahce - 5:30pm central on Setanta
Sevilla v *Arsenal - 1pm central on Setanta
#Steaua Bucuresti v Slavia Praha
-Wed Nov 28
Besiktas v Marseille
Liverpool v Porto - 1:30pm central on Setanta
Rosenborg v Chelsea - 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Valencia v Schalke
Werder Bremen v Real Madrid - 4pm central on ESPN Classic
Lazio v Olympiakos - 4pm central on Setanta
Benfica v Milan
Celtic v Shakhtar Donetsk
*Qualified for the knock out rounds.
#Eliminated from the knock out rounds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two Americans are playing matches in the Champions League:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - v Milan
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - at Stuttgart
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times writes about FIFA pres Sepp Blatter's disapproval of Brazilian players populating all the worlds leagues and some even becoming citizens of new countries for football purposes only. And other world soccer notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beginning in 2009, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales & Scotland will play a tournament every other year called The Celtic Cup. The plan is to play it every other year. Excellent idea.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul Gardner of the New York Sun writes about the failure of England in Euro 08 qualifying. Even though the headline says "British", the story is about England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune with a good story on World Soccer, politics, and the real life players involved in all of it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with a French Ligue Un roundup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The BBC with the story of a serious gaff at the England v Croatia game last week, where an English guy sang the Croat national anthem and got some word wrong, somehow making the proclamation of having a huge member. Then a few idiotic English fans booed the anthem when it was over. From funny to classless in 60 seconds. You poor dimwitted dumbasses. But the penis part is pretty funny.

Skippin' Class News

The rumors of Michael Parkhurst to Fulham, and Jozy Altidore to Real Madrid (and now Atletico Madrid) continue to grow and grow.

~and~

It didn't take long for Frank Yallop & San Jose to start moving players - they shipped former DC United midfielder Brian Carroll to Columbus, in exchange for forward Kei Kamara. They also sent a 4th round draft pick to Chivas USA for back up keeper Preston Burpo.

~and~

So how exactly is Juan Roman Riquelme going to be transferred by Villareal to Boca Juniors right now? All the worlds press are saying its a done deal. What about the transfer window? I say it doesn't happen now. Later, maybe. Now, no chance.


Young USA & New York striker Jozy Altidore writes for the New York Times Goal blog about his trip home for Thanksgiving. Sure he writes like he is 18, which he is, but he doesn't avoid talking about his trip to South Africa and his first USA cap, or all the Real Madrid rumors. I love this guy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet weighs in on Jozy Altidore's new future.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dallas coach Steve Morrow on why the team decided to leave defender Clarence Goodson unprotected in the expansion draft (he was taken by San Jose): "...he was out of contract, and both he and his agent indicated that a move abroad was a strong option. The new contract proposal to remain at FCD was more than we were willing to pay." From FC Dallas Updates.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

AP via USA Today has an article on Alexi Lalas, the one man marketing machine. Some would call him a hot-air factory.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com tries to figure out if MLS is giving LA and Landon Donovan special treatment, again.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Annapolis Capital Gazette with a nice personal reflection on the history of DC United.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Hush at MLSnet talks to New England midfielder Andy Dorman and his decision to leave the team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle says MLS is urging AEG to sell the Houston Dynamo, and a group led by OSCAR DE LA HOYA is interested! ODLH? Are you kidding me? That could be really cool. Much cooler than Christian Laitner owning a part of DC United, and at least as cool as Drew Carey owning a part of Seattle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales at Soccernet writes about the LA Galaxy and their first days under new bossman Ruuuuuuuuud Gullit, in Australia Tuesday & New Zealand Friday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Associated Press with a story on MLS's drive for more South American players.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet examines San Jose's first 10 players acquired through the expansion draft.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jesse Marsch of Chivas USA is the guest blogger today on Luis Arroyave's Red Card blog. Much like former teammate Diego Gutierrez last week, Marsch uses the space to rave about Chris Armas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Puget Sound Business Journal with an article on the particulars of the new Seattle franchise.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff on his Soccer Insider blog with some great MLS rumors, and more rumors.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Last week the former great Turkish player Hakan Sukur was rumored to be MLS bound, and now its another Turk past his prime, Ozalan Alpay.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Cleveland Plain Dealer with no less than 8 articles in their Sunday edition on Brad Friedel's Premier Soccer Academy in suburban Cleveland. Plus pictures, graphics & video. Good stuff! But I would have liked to see some in-depth reporting on the who is on staff to coach to the kids. This place looks amazing too. Well done Plain Dealer.
-'Soccer kids' draw attention
-Goal-Orientated
-Economic impact
-Learning part of the equation
-Missing home can be problem
-Good eating habits essential
-Training recipes
-The Players in the First Class
-Layouts, maps, details, etc
-Video
-Photos
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle on the importance of stadiums for MLS teams. And of course he says now is the time for Houston to step up.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Rusnak of the Sun Sentinel in South Florida looks at the interest MLS is again showing Miami. And why?
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In all the crush, haze & lunacy of the past few weeks, I missed this great report from the Copa Minnesota match in which our beloved Minnesota Thunder lost to the LA Galaxy on PK's. The game ended 1-1, and 3-2 on penalties. Brian Quarstad has this podcast for us to download or listen here. Plus several other interviews with players and coaches on both teams.
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The Vancouver Sun talks to Whitecaps pres Bob Lenarduzzi about the teams near and distant future.
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The Guardian with a feature story on USA & Fulham midfielder Clint Demspey and his not so easy, and at times depressing life growing up. Many of us already know this story, but I am sure there are way more of you who don't and will appreciate the quality in which it is written. (thanks to all of you who sent this my way, I really appreciate it)
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Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram examines the year 2007 for the USA men's soccer team. The positives & the concerns.
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FIFA.com has an interview with USA & Fulham keeper Kasey Keller who is in South Africa for the World Cup Qualifying draw this weekend. Video included. Keller is assisting with the draw alongside world greats George Weah, Marcel Dessaily, Abedi Pele, Lucas Redebi, Christian Karembeu & Ali Daei.
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The USA has almost learned their first opponent for 2010 World Cup Qualifying. Next June (dates tbd) they will face the winner of the prior Barbados v Dominica match up. If our boys win that, then they will advance to the first of two group stages to find our regions 3.5 qualifiers for South Africa (3 automatic, and a 4th to face a playoff with #5 from South America for another spot).
-US Soccer with quotes from USA manager Bob Bradley and team captain Carlos Bocanegra about the draw.
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Here is the full CONCACAF draw. Including analysis and quotes from coaches - with Hugo Sanchez again making a fool of himself calling his team the strongest in the region. Note to Hugo: you might wanna check the scores from this decade buddy, cuz you are clearly second best in CONCACAF now.
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Americans in Europe - how'd their recent matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on in the 63rd minute and bagged his teams final goal in a big 1-3 road win at Academica.
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers - played the whole match helping his team to a 1-3 win at Falkirk.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - played all 90 of a 2-2 draw at Freiburg.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - dressed but did not leave the bench in his teams 2-2 home tie with Blackburn.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - played all 90 minutes in a 3-2 losing effort at De Graafschap.
-Danny Califf - Aalborg - went the distance in a 1-0 win over Midtjylland.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - did not dress due to injury for his teams 2-3 home loss to Schalke.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - back in the starting lineup finally, going the distance, making a difference for his team, but still losing 2-1 at Manchester City.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played all 90 as usual, was dangerous as usual and his team gave up another late lead to draw 2-2 at home with Blackburn, as usual.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - made his Derby debut in the 84th minute, but lost 0-2 at home to Chelsea.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - started and helped his team to a 2-2 draw at Fulham.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went the distance as usual in goal but lost 2-1 at Manchester City.
-Tim Howard - Everton - started as always in goal and played the whole match as his team demolished Sunderland 7-1.
-Ian Joy - St Pauli - played the whole match but only drew 0-0 at Erzgebirge Aue.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - did not dress for his teams 0-2 home loss to Chelsea.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played all 90 minutes of a league cup match which they won at home 3-0 over KVSK from Lommel.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - came on in the 68th minute of his teams 2-0 loss at Hamburg.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - played all 90 and drew 0-0 at QPR.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on in the 82nd minute but could not help his team hold the lead and settled for a 1-1 home draw with Tottenham.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - play at Kaiserslautern on Monday.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - came on in the 69th minute of a 2-2 tie at Freiburg.
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Freddy's goal, via You Tube.
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Dan Callif and Aalborg travel to Tottenham on Thursday in the UEFA Cup which will be shown live in the USA on Fox Soccer Channel. It will be cool to see DC on TV in America.
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Eddie Lewis and Benny Feilhaber will have a new boss at Derby County as their coach Billy Davies was relieved of his duties today. (thanks to BQ for this one)
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The 2nd round of the NCAA tournament happens Wednesday night from coast to coast. Here are the matchups.
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Mexican Premiera Playoffs
-Quarterfinal First Leg Matches & Scores:
San Luis 1-1 Guadalajara
Cruz Azul 0-1 Atlante
Morelia 0-2 Santos Laguna
UNAM Pumas 2-0 Toluca
-Quarterfinal Second Leg Matches & Scores:
Guadalajara 1-0 San Luis - Chivas advance 2-1 on aggregate. (And I must say that their goal was one of the worst PK's I have ever seen given. Sad.)
Atlante 2-1 Cruz Azul - Atlante adv 3-1 on agg.
Santos Laguna 3-2 Morelia - Santos adv 5-2 on agg.
Toluca 1-1 UNAM Pumas - Pumas adv 3-1 on agg.
-Semifinal Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 28
Guadalajara v Atlante
UNAM Pumas v Santos Laguna
-Sat Dec 1
Atlante v Guadalajara
Santos Laguna v UNAM Pumas
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Copa Sudamericana Final
-Fri Nov 30 - First Leg
Club America v Arsenal de Sarandi
-Wed Dec 5 - Second Leg
Arsenal v America
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The Top 5 Teams in Europe's Top 4 Leagues:
-Premiership
33 Arsenal
30 Manchester United
29 Manchester City
28 Chelsea
27 Liverpool
-La Liga
29 Real Madrid
28 Villareal
27 Barcelona
25 Espanyol
24 Atletico Madrid
-Serie A
28 Inter Milan
25 Juventus
25 Roma
25 Udinese
24 Fiorentina
-Bundesliga
31 Bayern Munich
30 Werder Bremen
30 Hamburg
26 Karlsruhe
24 Bayer Leverkusen
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Argentine Apertura
With 2 games left in the season, three team battle for the title, and it could be all over by Wednesday night:
34 Lanus
31 Tigre
30 Boca Juniors
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Nov 28
Tigre v Boca Juniors
Lanus v Gimnasia
-Sat Dec 2
Boca Juniors v Lanus
Argentinos Juniors v Tigre
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The Soweto derby
-Sat Nov 24
Kaizer Chiefs 2-2 Orlando Pirates - this year played in Durban to coincide with the World Cup Qualifying draw. Kaiz goals by Mabhudi Khenyeza & Arthur Zwane. Orl goals both by Excellent Walaza.
-The South Africa Sunday Times talks to German legend Franz Beckenbauer about his impressions of the match, which he attended.
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Champions League - Matchday 5
-Tue Nov 27
#Stuttgart v Rangers
Lyon v Barcelona - 4pm central on ESPN Classic
#Dynamo Kyiv v Roma
*Manchester United v Sporting - 1:30pm central on ESPN2
#CSKA Moskva v PSV Eindhoven
Inter Milan v Fenerbahce - 5:30pm central on Setanta
Sevilla v *Arsenal - 1pm central on Setanta
#Steaua Bucuresti v Slavia Praha
-Wed Nov 28
Besiktas v Marseille
Liverpool v Porto - 1:30pm central on Setanta
Rosenborg v Chelsea - 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Valencia v Schalke
Werder Bremen v Real Madrid - 4pm central on ESPN Classic
Lazio v Olympiakos - 4pm central on Setanta
Benfica v Milan
Celtic v Shakhtar Donetsk
*Qualified for the knock out rounds.
#Eliminated from the knock out rounds.
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Two Americans are playing matches in the Champions League:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica v Milan
-DaMarcus Beasley - Rangers at Stuttgart
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Andrew Jennings of Transparency in Sport, the man who has been tracking all the foul deeds of Mr Jack Warner, is now investigating a behind the scene's at FIFA's latest war involving el Presidente Sepp Blatter and FIFA's brand new General Secretary Jerome Valcke, who appear to be involved in a case of Blackmail! The matter is from the 2001 collapse of FIFA's broadcast partner ISL-ISSM where several top FIFA officials were accused of being paid huge sums of money prior to ISSM going bankrupt and leaving vast fortunes unaccounted for and large bills unpaid, not to mention lack of services promised & undelivered. To make matters worse, Valcke's new appointment appears to reward him even after he is the man who led FIFA marketing negotiations with VISA that turned into a major lawsuit won by FIFA's present credit card partner MasterCard. FIFA was fined $90 million for wrong doing, yet Valcke gets a new, even better job at FIFA. The stories at FIFA just get worse and worse .... just wait until you read about who runs the organization's current TV-Marketing partner.
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FIFA.com talks to Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti and the upcoming World Club Championship.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Spain & Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas.
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Football Italia with this weeks Winners, Losers, Goals & numbers.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times on the Goal blog with an article on the demise of England on the world stage. I am not so sure I agree with this one.
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The rest of the World's qualifying set ups from FIFA.
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Top writers from the Guardian review top leagues around Europe:
-Sid Lowe in Spain.
-Raphael Honigstein in Germany.
-Paulo Bandini in Italy.
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Phil Ball of Soccernet digs it all up on Edmilson, Barca, Athletes for Christ and the rest of La Liga.
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Fulham defender Moritz Volz with a new entry in his online diary. He is great at this thing called blogging.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune says it didn't take England long, after their Euro 08 qualifying debacle, to sort out their scapegoats.
-And Hughes also writes about the players on that team, and what they do next.
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David James writing for the Observer says don't blame the keeper for England's mess.
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Jonah Freedman at Sports Illustrated does a great Q & A session with France & Barca star Thierry Henry.
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Sadly, the wife of Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli has passed away after a long battle with cancer.
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A stadium at a 3rd Division game in Brazil has had a portion of one stand collapse killing several people. Oh, this is just awful. From Reuters. (Thanks to Joe for this one)
-The New York Times with a horrible photo of the small part of the stands that crumbled away.