Unbelievably Strange Luck News

Fulham and the teams 4 Americans have lost another coach. Lawrie Sanchez who helped the team avoid relegation late last year was shown the door after a much less than stellar run so far in the 07-08 season. The team sits at 2 wins, 7 draws & 8 losses for 13 points and 18th place in the standings. The clubs former player John Collins is the man most people expect to get the job - he resigned from his job as Hibernian manager on Tuesday.

~and~

Liverpool v Inter & Arsenal v Milan are probably the 2 biggest show downs in the First Knockout stage of the Champions League when it returns in mid February. See the entire draw below.

~and~

Pantone Color Institute has named Blue Iris, # 18-3943, as the color of the year for 2008. You may notice that this is the color of du Nord. We are ahead of the curve, naturally. It is also the main coloring in the new floor I recently put in my kitchen. I know you are impressed.


Columbus Crew midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto is not heading back to Boca Juniors as has been speculated. Instead he wants to end his Crew contract now to join a team he played with even before Boca, Gimnasia.
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An excellent moment yesterday over at the fabulous DCenters - Ben Olsen of DC United drops by to give us his thoughts on the "holiday season". And a Merry Olsen to you as well.
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On Glenn Davis's radio show this week, one of his guests was new DC United keeper Zach Wells, and Wells let it be known that he had been invited to the USA training camp in early January. I would expect we will see who else is invited very soon. I hope its a lot of guys. The U23 team will have a separate camp in January as well.
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Now-former DC United goalkeeper Troy Perkins has officially signed with Norwegian team Valerenga. Here's a chance for all of us to brush up on our Norwegian. Troy looks happy.
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer gives his version of a warning shot to new NYRB coach Juan Carlos Osorio - Many people have stepped forward to fix the Metro curse. Many of them were pretty great coaches. All of them have failed. Be careful what you wish for (my favorite cliche).
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BAS also has words about Osorio from an old acquaintance.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet looks at the challenges ahead for Osorio in NY.
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Nick Green of the Daily Breeze on his 100 Percent Soccer blog reports that former LA Galaxy brilliant midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos has been named the coach of Nejapa in his native El Salvador.
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MLSnet talks to Dallas fullback Drew Moor about next season.
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The San Jose Mercury News talks to Earthquakes defender Ryan Cochran about his new team.
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Andrea Canales over at the tremendous Sideline Views blog is rumorizing about Lyon coming to the USA next summer. Aaaaaah, the French in the summer.
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Got an email from Ethan tipping me off the RSLFM rumor on American defender Ian Joy returning home from St Pauli in Germany to play for Real Salt Lake. Joy was all set to leave St Pauli at the end of last season, but they convinced him to stay. He did so, but then has been yo-yoed all season from field to bench. Can't be what he was hoping for.
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MSNBC has a story on the reasons why the NFL is still not in Los Angeles after all these years away. What is the deal? Does soccer play a role in this? (thanks to Nic for this one)
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Jamaican-Canadian forward O'Brian White of UConn has been named Soccer America's 2007 College Men's Player of the Year.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying
If the USA gets past the winner of Barbados & Domenica then will join 3 other teams in a home & away round robin tournament with 2 of them advancing to the mighty Hexagon! Here is the potential USA schedule (if all 3 other teams advance from the first round as expected):
-First Round:
home June 11-14
away June 18-21
-First Group Stage:
Aug 20 at Guatemala
Sep 6 at Cuba
Sep 10 v Trinidad & Tobago
Oct 11 v Cuba
Oct 15 at Trinidad & Tobago
Nov 19 v Guatemala
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Sheffield Wednesday are reporting that their American defender Frank Simek is going to miss up to 2 months of action after suffering a ruptured ankle ligament.
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UEFA Cup - Matchday 5 - Final round of Group play today and tomorrow.
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 19
Zurich 0-5 Bayer Leverkusen
Toulouse 2-1 Spartak Moskva
Braga 2-0 Crvena Zvezda
Bayern Munich 6-0 Aris
Getafe 2-1 Anderlecht
Hapoel Tel-Aviv 1-3 Aalborg
Panionios 2-3 Bordeaux
Galatasaray 0-0 Austria Wien
-Thu Dec 20
AZ Alkmaar 2-3 Everton
Larissa 1-3 Nurnberg
Atletico Madrid 2-1 Panathinaikos
Aberdeen 4-0 Kobenhavn
AEK Athens 1-2 Villarreal
Fiorentina 2-1 Mlada Boleslav
Hamburger 1-1 Basel
Rennes 1-1 Dinamo Zagreb
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UEFA Cup final Group round standings.
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Three Americans are playing matches in the UEFA Cup:
-Dan Califf - Aalborg - went the distance and won 1-3 at Hapoel Tel-Aviv, but have been eliminated from advancing to the knock-out stages.
-Ramiro Corrales - Brann - had a bye for this matchday and they were already been eliminated from advancing to the knock-out stage.
-Tim Howard - Everton - went the distance and won 2-3 at AZ Alkmaar to finish a perfect 4 for 4 in the group stage.
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Americans in action in Europe last night:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on in the 83rd minute, and was show a Yellow Card in the 90th for "simulation" aka he took a dive! Ben won 3-0 at home over Estrela Amadora.
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Italian TIM Cup
-Thu Dec 20
Milan 1-2 Catania
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Big Euro games this weekend - and one of the biggest weekends of the year!:
-Sat Dec 22
Arsenal v Tottenham - the classic old London derby.
Nancy Lorraine v Lyon - #2 v #1 in Ligue Un.
Zaragoza v Valencia - the 2 biggest underachievers in Spain this season. Will one of them kickstart a resurgence?
-Sun Dec 23
Lens v Lille - le Derby du Nord!
Barcelona v Real Madrid - El Clasico!
Internazionale Milan v AC Milan - the Milan derby!! AKA Derby della Madonnina.
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Football Italia with a Milan Derby preview.
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Reuters with an article on Samuel Eto'o's timely return to the Barcelona lineup from injury right before El Clasico. They will need him to be sublime.
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The German Bundesliga has gone on winter break. Games will resume on Feb 1.
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Just drawn this morning:
Champions League - First Knockout Round
First Leg
-Tue Feb 19
Schalke v Porto
Roma v Real Madrid
Olympiacos v Chelsea
Liverpool v Inter
-Wed Feb 20
Celtic v Barcelona
Lyon v Man United
Fenerbahce v Sevilla
Arsenal v Milan
Second leg
-Tue Mar 4
Barcelona v Celtic
Man United v Lyon
Sevilla v Fenerbahce
Milan v Arsenal
-Wed Mar 5
Porto v Schalke
Real Madrid v Roma
Chelsea v Olympiacos
-Tue Mar 11
Inter v Liverpool
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Goal.com with their Starting XI - Christmas wishes granted.
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Business Day in South Africa with an article on 3 local companies who have already been accused of illegally using the 2010 World Cup to sell their products.
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From the Public Agenda in Ghana: Harnessing Football for Peace and Development
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After one year in charge of Boca Juniors, Miguel Angel Russo has been booted out, with Carlos Bianchi slated to take over. I bet you didn't know that Bianchi was in the original cast of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, playing the role of Riff Raff (thats him on the far right. Or is that Larry David in charge of Boca? Or was it Larry David who starred as Riff Raff?
-Of course there is another rumor that Argentine goal scoring legend Gabriel Batistuta could be the next boss at Boca.
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The Guardian with an article on Lebanon, where despite on going politically motivated violence, the football goes on.

Can You Read Me That Card News

US Soccer has named their 4 Player of the Year Awards:
-Clint Dempsey - Men's Player Of The Year
-Michael Bradley - Young Men's Player Of The Year
-Abby Waumbach - Women's Player Of The Year
-Lauren Cheney - Young Women's Player Of The Year


FC Dallas Updates has a Q & A with their own forward Kenny Cooper who is England training with his old club Manchester United (you may have heard of them).
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A rumor that has appeared two days in a row says Dallas may be chasing after Mexico's world class cheap-shot Duilio Davino from Club America.
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The Delco Times of the Philadelphia area with an editorial on the importance of securing a MLS team and stadium in their city.
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The Telegraph of England has an interview with new LA Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit. They mostly just talk about England.
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MLSnet has a season review of the New England Revolution. And then they ask 5 Big Questions for next season.
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Metrofanatic is reporting that Red Bulls midfielder Markus Schopp has retired. This is coming from an Austrian newspaper. After showing he still had something left in the tank during 2006, Schopp was 100% useless to the Red Bulls last season.
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And Metro is also spreading the rumor that recently retired Chris Armas just might, maybe, who knows, could possibly be, looking for a chance to become a NYRB assistant coach. "Very Interesting" said Colonel Klink!
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New York forward target="new" ONCLICK="out=false"Jozy Altidore checks in with a little Holiday Cheer for all of us via the New York Times Goal blog. He also writes about going to China and the new Red Bulls coach.
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Clemente Lisi at the US Soccer Players Assoc looks at some American players who might be a shot with Team USA in 08.
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There's a new LA supporters group - The Angel City Brigade.
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The Beaumont Enterprise of Texas talks to Houston Dynamo Pres Oliver Luck. Fills in some good background on Luck.
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The Toronto Star feels that MLS's foreign player rules are useless and need to go. The author, Cathal Kelly, again proves his ignorance of the history of soccer in North America. Maybe someday this quota can be dropped, but for now its great and has been one of several levy's put in place to keep MLS from becoming the NASL. History is good to know. (actually I am not sure why I linked to this at all - the who wrote it is a moron)
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Canada's National Post with a story on the chances of Maurice Edu leaving Toronto for the Premiership.
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Real Salt Lake has sent midfielder Attiba Harris to Chivas USA in exchange for a 3rd round draft pick. Good deal for RSL!
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Valencia's Spanish goalkeeper Santiago Canizares is rumored to be interested in coming to MLS in January. Is he willing to play for about $75,000? Cuz that is the most he could probably get. Too many foreign keepers have shown up, got paid waaaaaaay to much and ended up being worse than what we already have. Walter Zenga, Ronald Wattereus, Shaka Hislop, etc etc etc (too many to list really).
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Soccernet has begun their annual pre-Superdraft scouting reports. Buzz Carrick (of 3rd Degree fame) on the goalkeepers.
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Pat Walsh at Goal.com wants to know who has the easier job - Bob Bradley or Fabio Capello?
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A few words from the new Minnesota Thunder owner Dean Johnston, from the St Paul City Hall Scoop blog. Download or listen here.
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12 teams will play off for the final 6 spots in next years Copa Libertadores. These matches will be played beginning Jan 30. Get ready cuz here it comes:
Lanus v Olmedo
Cruzeiro v Cerro Porteno
Arsenal v Mineros de Guayana
Mexico Qualifier v Bolivia Qualifier
Montevideo Wanderers v Cienciano
Chico v Audax Italiano
-Here are the details.
-The Group Stage will then begin Feb 13.
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UEFA Cup - Matchday 5 - Final round of Group play today and tomorrow.
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 19
Zurich 0-5 Bayer Leverkusen
Toulouse 2-1 Spartak Moskva
Braga 2-0 Crvena Zvezda
Bayern Munich 6-0 Aris
Getafe 2-1 Anderlecht
Hapoel Tel-Aviv 1-3 Aalborg
Panionios 2-3 Bordeaux
Galatasaray 0-0 Austria Wien
-Thu Dec 20
AZ Alkmaar 2-3 Everton
Larissa 1-3 Nurnberg
Atletico Madrid 2-1 Panathinaikos
Aberdeen 4-0 Kobenhavn
AEK Athens 1-2 Villarreal
Fiorentina 2-1 Mlada Boleslav
Hamburger 1-1 Basel
Rennes 1-1 Dinamo Zagreb
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UEFA Cup Group Standings.
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Three Americans are playing matches in the UEFA Cup:
-Dan Califf - Aalborg - went the distance and won 1-3 at Hapoel Tel-Aviv, but have been eliminated from advancing to the knock-out stages.
-Ramiro Corrales - Brann - had a bye for this matchday and they were already been eliminated from advancing to the knock-out stage.
-Tim Howard - Everton - at AZ Alkmaar on Thursday.

English League Cup
Quarterfinal Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 12
West Ham 1-2 Everton
-Tue Dec 18
Blackburn 2-3 Arsenal
Manchester City 0-2 Tottenham
-Wed Dec 19
Chelsea 2-0 Liverpool

Spanish Copa del Rey - Fifth Round
-Wed Dec 19
Alicante 1-1 Real Madrid
Real Union 1-2 Valencia
Espanyol 1-1 Deportivo La Caruna

Italian TIM Cup
-Wed Dec 19
Lazio 2-1 Napoli
Reggina 1-4 Inter
Torino 3-1 Roma
Udinese 0-0 Palermo
-Thu Dec 20
Milan v Catania

Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated looks at the move of Mexican Nery Castillo heading to Manchester City.

Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated on his Throw-Ins blog is using his San Jose Earthquakes insider connections to learn that the teams part owner John Fisher has bought a stake in Celtic. Yes, Celtic. Good stuff Johan.

Inter have completed a deal with Sao Paulo for their deeply troubled forward Adriano to go home and play on a loan deal. Let's hope he gets it together.

The Guardian bring in 3 "experts" to discuss the problems with the England national team and other topics in today’s English game. The 3 are: David Pleat, Leon Angel & Nigel Worthington. (thanks to George H & BQ for this one)

Tony Francis at the Telegraph in England with an article about the strong and steady Basque heritage of Athletic Bilbao in La Liga.

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian looks at the embodiment of problems in Russian football.

Finally, the draw for the Champions League Knockout stages is tomorrow - Fri Dec 21.

The Entertainment Capital Of Parts Unknown News

Here is the bracket for the CONCACAF Champions Cup. DC United (v Harbour View) & Houston Dynamo (Municipal) represent MLS. The first leg matches take place the week of March 10. And the tournament ends around May 1.

~and~

The USA will play in Group A for CONCACAF Olympic qualifying. The other teams in their group are: Panama, Honduras & Cuba. Group B consists of: Mexico, Guatemala, Canada & Haiti. The top two teams from each group face off in the semifinals and those two winners go to the Olympics next summer in China. The games start March 11 in Tampa and end March 23 in Nashville. All the details are here.

~and~

Here is the direct link to download or listen to yesterdays debut of The US Soccer Show episode 1! Hosted by "14 Karat" Kartik Krishnaiyer & "Diamond" Dave Denholm and featuring me as a guest!


The final batch of 2007 "Best Of" awards were handed out this afternoon, and Steven Goff's Soccer Insider was named "Best Blog". No surprise there, cuz it is top notch. All along I said I didn't care if du Nord won or not (and I honestly didn't care - the nomination was nice but I didn't feel anything from it), but I have to admit that when the name Soccer Insider came up on the screen I was bummed. Weird huh. It never phased me until that minute. Watch the full awards announcements here.
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So fittingly we start here - Steven Goff on the Soccer Insider blog talks to MLS Deputy Dawg Ivan Gazidis about the leagues new competition rules changes. Some great stuff here.
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Ives Galarcep on the Soccer By Ives blog with his views on the Red Bulls Juan Carlos Osorio press conference yesterday, and other new NYRB info.
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Galarcep also reports: "Houston Dynamo assistant John Spencer and New England assistant Paul Mariner have interviewed for the Chicago Fire's vacant head coaching position."
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Many stories covering the introduction of Juan Carlos Osorio as the new Red Bulls coach:
-Jack Bell of the New York Times
-Ives Galarcep of the North Jersey Herald News
-Jane Havsy of the Daily Record
-The Newark Star Ledger
-Big Apple Soccer
-Pat Walsh of Goal.com
-Luis Arroyave of Chicago Tribune on The Red Card.
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Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal has named MLS commisioner Don Garber as the 27th more influential person in American sports business.
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Last week Eric Salsbery of AYL Soccer in Salt Lake wrote a very interesting story about RSL coach Jason Kreis causing some fisures between the team, their fans & other teams around the world. Then this week he follows up with more on that same story after talking to the subject himself, and then gets some words directly from Kreis on the subject (without really saying much at all). Great stuff.
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Steve Davis at MLSnet tells us what those new league roster rules really mean.
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Ian Plenderleith of the US Soccer Players Assoc looks at the increase in the MLS foreign player allotment.
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MLSnet with an article on young Dallas forward Dominic Oduro. He has promise, but can he deliver.
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The Empire Supporters Club from New York has issued their latest fanzine - Issue #5. Just in time for the year end.
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Remember Juan Toja Wig Night? FC Dallas Updates gives us more video highlights and outtakes from that fabled night!
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The Toronto Sun ran a profile today of the general managers of all the major sports teams in their city. Here is their look at TFC boss Mo Johnston.
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The Evening Times of Glasgow with an article on Poland & Celtic forward Maciej Zurawski who has been rumored to be signing with Los Angeles.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports says that there will be no mass invasion of imports to MLS.
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US Soccer has a podcast of an interview with USA U20 & Wake Forest defender Julian Valentin. His college team just won the national title. Download or listen now.
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US Soccer also hands out 4 more 2007 "Best Of" awards - Best Assist, Fan Atmosphere, Goal (Woman) & Photo.
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Andrew Rogers of Soccer365 with part 2 of a Q & A with USA & Derby County midfielder Benny Feilhaber.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times Goal blog looks at the beauty of old NASL shirts.
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Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer writes about the plight of the good old fashioned magazine covering soccer in the USA.
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UEFA Cup - Matchday 5 - Final round of Group play today and tomorrow.
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 19
Zurich v Leverkusen
Toulouse v Spartak Moskva
Braga v Crvena Zvezda
Bayern v Aris
Getafe v Anderlecht
Hapoel Tel-Aviv v Aalborg
Panionios v Bordeaux
Galatasaray v Austria Wien
-Thu Dec 20
AZ Alkmaar v Everton
Larissa v Nurnberg
Atletico Madrid v Panathinaikos
Aberdeen v Kobenhavn
AEK Athens v Villarreal
Fiorentina v Mlada Boleslav
Hamburger v Basel
Rennes v Dinamo Zagreb
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UEFA Cup Group Standings.
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Three Americans are playing matches in the UEFA Cup:
-Dan Califf - Aalborg - at Hapoel Tel-Aviv Wednesday
-Ramiro Corrales - Brann - bye week
-Tim Howard - Everton - at AZ Alkmaar
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English League Cup
Quarterfinal Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 12
West Ham 1-2 Everton
-Tue Dec 18
Blackburn 2-3 Arsenal
Manchester City 0-2 Tottenham
-Wed Dec 19
Chelsea v Liverpool
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American goalkeeper Brad Friedel and his Blackburn team lost 2-3 in extra time to Arsenal in the English League Cup last night.
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Spanish Copa del Rey
Fifth Round Matches & Scores
-Wed Dec 19
Alicante v Real Madrid
Real Union v Valencia
Espanyol v Deportivo La Caruna
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Italian TIM Cup
-Wed Dec 19
Lazio v Napoli
Reggina v Inter
Torino v Roma
Udinese v Palermo
-Thu Dec 20
Milan v Catania
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Adam at This Is American Soccer sent me a report that says Mexican forward Nery Castillo paid most of his own transfer fee to leave Shakhatar Donetsk to play for Manchester City. That's one way to do it.
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Sid Lowe of the Guardian on language translation gaff's in Europe.
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Football Italia's blog with this tasty article: Everybody Hates Inter.
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Reuters with a story on the massive drain of native players leaving Brazil. 1085 in foreign leagues this year!
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A nice Q & A with a good blog friend of du Nord, The Gaffer aka Chris from EPL Talk. The web blogging info site Performancing does the interview. Cheers to Chris, one of the best in the business by far.
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Speaking of EPL Talk, I completely forgot to link to this really good interview from last weeks EPL Talk Podcast: Guillem Balague of the Time of London. This guy is an amazing fountain of knowledge. Listen or download now.
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Israel's biggest club Maccabi Tel Aviv has been sold to a Canadian.
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Benjie Goodhart of the Guardian responds to the lawsuit filed against Inter Milan for their uniform with a red cross on the front, which is supposedly offensive.
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World Soccer Magazine has a Q & A with Holland & Arsenal injury prone forward Robin van Persie. Via Sports Illustrated.

The US Soccer Show

Big Big News!!!
Today is the debut of a brand new radio show, The US Soccer Show!!
Brought to us by the fine folks at Champions Soccer Radio Network.
This show is hosted by my pals Dave Denholm & Kartik Krishnaiyer.
And to make it even better, I am one of the guests on Episode 1.
You can listen to it here for now, and soon will be available via I-Tunes and RSS feed.

Put Your Hands Up For Nazareth, A Lovely City, News

MLS has announced their 2008 competition guidelines and calendar.

~and~

A Fulham fan has put manager Laurie Sanchez up for sale on E-bay. Yes! Sad, but very funny. (thanks to BQ for this one)

~and~

New York Red Bulls introduced Juan Carlos Osorio as their new coach today.

~and~

US Soccer has begun their annual parade of year-end awards - today they announce Best "All Access" Video, Best Performance (Team), and Best Soccer Store.


Business Wire with the story on Univision who has won the bidding for the brand new CONCACAF Champions League Spanish language TV broadcasting rights in America. From the article we can glean a few facts that were previously unknown:
-Will start next August, and conclude in April.
-24 teams from the region will participate
-There will be Qualifying Rounds
-Followed by a Group Stage
-And finally Knockout Rounds
-Univision will show 52 games on their main channel and on TeleFutura
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune writes about Juan Carlos Osorio leaving Chicago for family reasons. What are those reasons? Does this story answer it?
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Arroyave also has more names and rumors for the open Chicago coaches spot, on his Red Card blog.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger writes about new Red Bulls coach Osorio.
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Richard Snowden at Soccer365 with his thoughts on Osorio leaving Chicago, and Osorio taking over in New York.
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Jeff Bradley at MLSnet with his First XI: The Magic Number? - 11 New York coaches.
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Michael Lewis at MLSnet talks to Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira who once coached the Metrostars/Red Bulls and currently runs the South Africa national team. Good stuff.
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Ronnie Turner of the Houston Chronicle on the new contract for Dynamo head coach Dom Kinnear.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe on the slew of players from Wake Forest in MLS. New England coach Steve Nicol has been particularly fond of Demon Deacons.
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Nick Green of the Daily Breeze in Southern California with an article on Rosetti, the architecture firm that designed Home Depot Center, Toyota Park, Real Salt Lake's new home in Sandy Utah and Red Bull Park in Harrison New Jersey (along with many others).
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The Philadelphia Daily News says that a look at the big picture is what's needed in stadium development. And when you look at it that way, you can't go wrong with building one.
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Andrew Dixon at the US Soccer Players Assoc looks at what MLS must do better if they try Miami again.
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Yanks Abroad talks to American Ramiro Corrales, currently playing for Brann in Norway (and in the UEFA Cup right now) about returning to play for a MLS team.
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Yanks Abroad also says that contrary to his own words 1 month ago, American Nat Borchers wants to leave his Norwegian club Odd Grenland and come back to play in MLS too.
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Real Salt Lake forward Alecko Eskandarian has had his one week try-out with Standard in Belgium extended.
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The Courier News with an article on New Jersey youth star Matt Kassel has to decide between Maryland & college, or going pro now. He is already with the Red Bull youth teams and could be brought straight in to the senior squad.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet looks at possible pitfalls for the USA in World Cup Qualifying.
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Metrofanatic is reporting that NY defender Hunter Freeman injured his knee while playing for the USA U23 team last weekend.
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Final entries on the China trip from the U23 official team blog. Including a trip re-cap from team captain Sacha Kljestan.
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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America talks to USA U23 coach Petr Nowak as he returns from taking his team to China last week.
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Mexican forward Nery Castillo has been loaned out by his club Shakhtar Donetsk to Manchester City.
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise gives his thoughts on the just completed Club World Cup. It's in need of some serious changes.
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Chelsea captain John Terry could miss as much as 3 months with several broken bones in his foot.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times on new England boss Fabio Capello, plus other world soccer notes.
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Paul Gardner of the New York Sun on Capello's hiring by England.
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The Times of London has a big story on Arsenal & Spain young-star Cesc Fabregas.
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Reuters has an interview with young France & Lyon striker Karim Benzema. A nearly great one already at age 20.
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Reuters also has a story on struggling Valencia coach Ronald Koeman who today called out some of his "underperforming" players by name. Ouch.
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And Reuters Soccer Blog with an article asking the question - Can Eto'o make up for the loss of Messi? This weekend its Real Madrid v Barcelona, but Lionel Messi is out hurt.
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Paolo Bandini of the Guardian with a story on weird, whining, complaining, bull headed & talented Antonio Cassano. He went nuts last weekend while playing for Sampdoria.
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The Guardian with an article on another great player from this past year, Iran captain Younis Mahmoud.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about the Brazilian sweep of FIFA Men's & Women's Player Of The Year awards.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Vitor Baia who retired from Porto after last season. He was the Portuguese keeper who was tortured by the USA in World Cup 2002.
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Virginia Quarterly Review with an in-depth article on football in the South American nation of Suriname. Suriname is one of three countries in South America that are not part of the CONMEBOL federation - Guyana & Guyane being the other two. (Not to mention Trinidad & Tobago which is only 10 miles off the coast of Venezuela) Why? I don't know.

Everyday Type Shirt News

Wake Forest, who have sent several great players to MLS in recent years, won the NCAA College Cup yesterday. Congrats Wake.

~and~

Super Pippo The Poacher scored 2 goals and Kaka set them both up plus scored the game winner himself to lead Milan to the Club World Cup title in Japan.

~and~

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi will most likely miss next Sundays big derby v Real Madrid with a thigh injury. Damn it!

~and~

Tickets go on sale Wednesday for CONCACAF Olympic qualifying.

~and~

Out tomorrow on DVD - MLS Cup 2007: The Championship Match from A&E DVD.


Bernardo Fallas at the Houston Chronicle reports that the Dynamo has given head coach Dominic Kinnear a 3 year contract extension. I hope he got a lot of money to stay put!
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Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun Times talks to former Chicago Fire coach Dave Sarachan who rips recently departed coach Juan Carlos Osorio. Ah, sour grapes... few things taste worse.
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So far the two front runners to take over the Chicago helm are asst coach Dennis Hamlet, and former player Frank Klopas. Expect more names to be added to this list.
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Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports says DC United is better off WITHOUT Juan Sebastian Veron.
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A report from England says Liverpool will be the opponent for the MLS All Star game next summer in Toronto.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jim Dow at Rev's Net has an interview with New England assistant coach Paul Mariner.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com looks at MLS salaries for 07 and tells us who was the most deserving of much more cash then they were paid.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The CBC talks to Canada & Houston keeper Pat Onstad about his excellent 2007.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Aberdeen (Scotland) Evening Express has articles on two Houston teammates who both have Aberdeen roots: Stuart Holden - and - Paul Dalglish.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLSnet with a season review of DC United. And asks 5 Big Questions for next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLSnet also says Dallas coach Steve Morrow is over in England on a player scouting trip.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Real Salt Lake forward Alecko Eskandarian is in Belgium for a trial run with fellow American Oguchi Onyewu's club Standard Liege.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Miami Herald with the latest update on stadium plans in Miami (its in there, just dig a bit).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U23 Friendlies
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Dec 13
China U23 0-0 USA U23 in Changsha
-The most interesting thing about this game is that Maurice Edu started in the center of defense. Yes, defense.
-Sun Dec 16
China U23 3-3 USA U23 in Guangzhou - USA goals by Robbie Rogers, Patrick Ianni & Charlie Davies. The USA lead 3-0 at half time, but in classic AC Milan style gave up 3 second half goals to the red clad Liverpool, I mean China. Damn. Not the way you wanna do it.
Match report from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer with game 2 photos.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer did a Q & A with U23 coach Petr Nowak before the 2nd game in China.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

U23 official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sal Zizzo did not play in China due to a bum ankle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail writes about Toronto FC's two young players on the U23 team in China - Maurice Edu & Marvell Wynne.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Pocono Record (in Pennsylvania) has an article on current USA U17 goalkeeper Earl Edwards.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NCAA College Cup - Final
Matches & Scores:
-Sun Dec 16
Wake Forest 2-1 Ohio State.
Match report by Doug McIntyre of Soccernet.
Match Report from Wake Forest's Old Gold & Black.
Match report from Ohio State's The Lantern.
Match report from the Greensboro News Record.
Match report from the Winston Salem Journal.
Match report from the Columbus Dispatch.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wake's best known player, defender Julian Valentin, who played for the USA U20's in last summers World Cup took a boot to the face in the title game and had to get 30 stitches to close the wound! Ouch. He was still on the field at the end to collect the championship trophy though!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans in Europe - how'd their recent matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on in the 79th minute of a 1-0 loss at Belenenses.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - started as always, went the distance and even scored on a PK as they won 5-0 at home over Erzgebirge Aue.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - started and went 90 but lost yet again, 0-1 on a 90th minute PK at home to Newcastle.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - played all 90, yet didn't score this week, but his team sure did winning 1-5 at NAC Breda.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the distance in a terrible effort losing 5-1 at Energie Cottbus.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - started and went 84 minutes of a 1-1 tie game at Birmingham.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played all 90 minutes of a brutal 0-1 home loss to Newcastle who scored in the 90th minute.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played 90 minutes but lost 0-1 at home to Plymouth Argyle and dropped down to 2nd place in the Championship division.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - did not dress for a 0-1 loss at Middleborough.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - went the distance but got smoked at Wigan 5-3.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - played the entire match in a 1-1 draw at Birmingham.
-Tim Howard - Everton - played the full game as usual and won 0-2 at West Ham.
-Ian Joy - St Pauli - did not dress for his teams 1-0 home win over Mainz.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - on the bench but didn't play in a 0-1 loss at Middleborough.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played the full match but could only draw 0-0 at Dender.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - came on in the 84th minute of a 2-0 home win over Bochum.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - started as always but suffered a bad ankle injury in the 28th minute and was taken off. The team went on to lose 2-1 at Crystal Palace.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - did not see the field in a 0-2 home loss to Everton.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - played all 90 minutes but lost 1-0 at St Pauli.
-Danny Szetela - Racing Santander - did not make the bench for his teams 2-1 loss at Murcia.
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - started in defense and scored his teams 2nd goal, but they lost 2-3 at home to Oldham Athletic.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - came on in the 72nd minute of their 5-0 home win over Erzgebirge.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The damage to Frank Simek's ankle seemed serious. I will let you know when I see more news.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Zak Whitbread has been added to the list above. He is finally back in the good graces of his team Millwall, seeing regular action and contributing well. He has scored 3 goals in the last 7 games. Kind of amazing for a defender!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Watford has lost 4 of their last 6 games, and are no longer on top of the Championship division.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I would think that Fulham manager Laurie Sanchez is very near to getting the boot with only 2 wins all season, the team sitting in the relegation zone, and generally all around looking pretty miserable.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Soccer Daily talks to USA & West Ham defender Jonathan Spector.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Seltzer of ASD talks to American Preston Zimmerman about his new contract at Hamburg in Germany.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Club World Cup - Championship Match
-Sun Dec 16
Boca Juniors 2-4 Milan - Boca goals by Rodrigo Palacio & Pablo Ledesma. Milan goals by Pippo Inzaghi(2), Alessandro Nesta & Ricardo Kaka.
Match report featuring video, stats etc. from FIFA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The game was refereed by Mexican Marco Rodriguez, aka El Vampiro.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dorados of Culiacan has won the Mexican Division A crown (2nd division).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Matches in Europe this weekend:
Valencia 0-3 Barcelona
Liverpool 0-1 Manchester United
Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea
Ajax v PSV - game postponed due to police strike.
Karlsruhe 1-1 Hamburg
Olympiacos 1-0 AEK Athens
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In England the top 2 separated themselves from #'s 3 & 4!
-Sean Ingle of the Guardian on the top 2.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times of London has an article on Blackburn manager Mark Hughes who says the biggest teams in England get treated less harshly than the rest - his proof - Arsenal v Chelsea, and no one saw red.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The loss dropped Liverpool to 5th and tied on points with Everton & Portsmouth (meaning they could easily be sitting in 7th).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New Valencia coach Ronald Koeman could already be on the way out the door as he has done absolutely nothing to turn that talented team around.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich has been named the 2007 French Player Of The Year.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian reports from around Europe & the globe:
-Sid Lowe - Spain - Valencia take another beating.
-Raphael Honigstein - Germany - Bayern Munich's "General", Omar Hitzfeld, is not getting the job done.
-Marcela Mora y Araujo - Argentina - Boca lose the Club World Cup title game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Football Italia's weekend roundup of Serie A.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters previews next weekends Milan derby - Inter v Milan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Observer has an interview with Czech & Arsenal midfielder Tomas Rosicky.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times on the appointment of Fabio Capello to the England job.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil Ball at Soccernet on next weekends El Clasico (Real Madrid v Barcelona on Sunday) and this past weekends La Liga action.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters with a story on Croatia & Werder Bremen forward Ivan Klasnic who returned to the field with 2 goals for his club this weekend, one for each kidney transplant he had earlier this year!! Amazing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA has named their 2007 Players Of The Year today:
-Men - Ricardo Kaka
-Women - Marta

Yankee Swap Day News

Setanta Sports is reporting the Juan Sebastian Veron is NOT joining DC United. He has turned down their offer to stay at Estudiantes.


The Kansas City Star with an article on KC Wiz season ticket holders getting a look at the clubs new home field, while across town the city was voting YES on a plan for the team to build their own stadium on the grounds of an abandon shopping center. MLSnet talks to the teams ownership about the plan. There is still one more political hurdle, and that is for some state funding. Lastly, here are artist renderings of the entire development project - but no real images of a stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Seattle has crossed the 10k mark in season ticket orders.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on the Dynamo's acquisition of defender Bobby Boswell.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLSnet reviews the season of the New York Red Bulls. And then proposes 5 Big Questions for next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And the same for Real Salt Lake - the season in review - and 5 Big Questions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald gives us the latest news on a potential new MLS team in Miami, where the league failed miserably once already.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TeamTalk with words from Mexican striker Jared Borgetti about a possible move to an MLS team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TV Sports Daily says MLS is still guilty of appearing to make rule changes that favor some teams over others.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TSN Sports of Canada with a great year end soccer round up.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U23 Friendlies
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Dec 13
China U23 0-0 USA U23 in Changsha
-The most interesting thing about this game is that Maurice Edu started in the center of defense. Yes, defense.
-Sun Dec 16
China U23 v USA U23 in Guangzhou
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer with photos from Thursdays match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

U23 official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The US Soccer Players Assoc reports that American forward Preston Zimmerman has been rewarded by Hamburg with a promotion to the full senior team and a new contract.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NCAA College Cup - Semifinals & Final
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Dec 14 - Semifinals
Virginia Tech v Wake Forest - live at 4pm central time on ESPN2 & ESPNU
Massachusetts v Ohio State - live at 6:30pm central time on ESPNU & delayed at 10pm central on Sat Dec 15 on ESPN2
-Sun Dec 16 - Final
live at 2pm central time on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Doug McIntyre at Soccernet previews the NCAA semi's.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jere Longman of the New York Times with an article on Semifinal underdog UMass.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer talks to USA & Heerenveen midfielder Michael Bradley who is on a serious tear this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Club World Cup - Championship Match
-Sun Dec 16
Boca Juniors v Milan - live at 4am central on Fox Soccer Channel.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Matches in Europe this weekend:
-Sat Dec 15
Valencia v Barcelona
-Sun Dec 16
Liverpool v Manchester United
Arsenal v Chelsea
Ajax v PSV
Karlsruhe v Hamburg
Olympiacos v AEK Athens
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Marcela Mora y Araujo of the Guardian looks at fellow Argentines Javier Mascherano & Carlos Tevez, who one year ago were in the middle of a weird transfer deal, and this weekend will play against each other in a very big match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The BBC is reporting that an American organization is possibly going to buy in to Derby County in England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kevin McCarra of the Guardian poses the 10 biggest tasks ahead for Fabio Capello when he takes over the England team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bayern Munich has signed very young Brazilian centerback Breno from Sao Paulo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with former Japan star Hidetoshi Nakata.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And with that, I am off for a nice pre-Holiday weekend with my family.

Foolish Delights News

England is expected to formally announce Fabio Capello (who I believe is a distant relative of Mr. Magoo) as their new manager today.


Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com speaks with New England assistant coach Paul Mariner about this name surfacing for various coaching positions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~The Toronto Star talks to former TFC assistant coach Bob Gansler about his departure.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle says what MLS really needs is more player-fan connection to make the league even more unique from other sports in America.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The real Ronaldo is on the verge of being cut loose by Milan due to his nearly constant injuries. Many in MLS will be excited to get a shot at him. But do we really want a worn out guy? He is my favorite player, but, come on.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And another rumor started up again that Colorado is interested in signing Mexican forward Jared Borgetti. Ugh. Please don't. He is past his "Sell by" date.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stories from the Bobby Boswell (DC defender) for Zach Wells (Houston goalkeeper) swap:
Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle.
John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I got an email from a guy named Warren who has a Q & A with Chicago Fire goalkeeper Matt Pickens up on his website - chicagofiresoccer.teach-nology.com. Check it out.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The San Jose Mercury News got a few minutes with Earthquakes owner Lew Wolff. Of course the first question is about baseball.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Those high school soccer players from the San Jose area who were kicked off their teams for partaking in a "professional tryout" have been re-instated. From the Conta Costra Times. I don't believe these kids were trying out for the senior squad, but for the amateur youth club of the team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Philadelphia Daily Mail with an update on stadium funding from the state in that city.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Philly Inquirer with a story on a contest between two colleges to come up with an advertising campaign for a new MLS team in their city. I really hope that they have no intention using this garbage.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Miami Herald looks at what it might take to get a MLS-ready soccer facility built in that city.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U23 Friendlies
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Dec 13
China U23 0-0 USA U23 in Changsha - the most interesting thing about this game is that Maurice Edu started in the center of defense. Yes, defense.
Match report from US Soccer.
-Sun Dec 16
China U23 v USA U23 in Guangzhou
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

U23 official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Seltzer of American Soccer Daily talks to USA & Heerenveen midfielder Michael Bradley about his amazing run in Holland, and a little on the future.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ASD also confirms that DC United keeper Troy Perkins has joined the ranks of Yanks Abroad. His move to Valerenga in Norway is all but done.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com has a fluffy (like an egg white omelet - who the hell would eat that anyway?) Q & A with USA & Aalborg defender Dan Califf.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Rogers of Soccer365 does a Q & A with USA & Derby midfielder Benny Feilhaber.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Dixon at the US Soccer Players Assoc says the time is not yet upon us when an American coach can make the move to Europe. I think some of them need to go as assistants. Why can't Arena put his ego in a (very large) suitcase and go be an assistant at some big club for a season. I bet Walter Smith at Rangers would have him. Yes, I know that sounds preposterous.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters has the roster for Sweden for their friendly next month v USA. All the players play in the domestic league, which will be on winter break.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NCAA College Cup - Semifinals & Final
Matches & Scores:
-Fri Dec 14 - Semifinals
Virginia Tech v Wake Forest - live at 4pm central time on ESPN2 & ESPNU
Massachusetts v Ohio State - live at 6:30pm central time on ESPNU & delayed at 10pm central on Sat Dec 15 on ESPN2
-Sun Dec 16 - Final
live at 2pm central time on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maria Burns Ortiz at Soccernet previews the College Cup semifinals - Ohio State.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Club World Cup
-About the teams:
Urawa Red Diamonds - Japan - Host team & Asian Champions
Etoile Sportive du Sahal - Tunisia - African Champions
Boca Juniors - Argentina - CONMEBOL Champions
AC Milan - Italy - European Champions
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 12 - Semifinals
Etoile 0-1 Boca Juniors - goal by Neri Cardozo.
-Thu Dec 13 - Semifinals
Urawa 0-1 Milan - goal by Clarence Seedorf.
Match report (with video & stats etc) from FIFA.com.
-Sun Dec 16 - Championship Match
Boca Juniors v Milan - live at 4am central on Fox Soccer Channel.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UNAM Pumas have sold young Mexican defender Hector Moreno to AZ in Holland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Champions League - Matchday 6 - The final round of the Group Stage.
-Tue Dec 11
Marseille 0-4 Liverpool - goals by Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt & Ryan Babel.
Porto 2-0 Besiktas - goals by Lucho Gonzalez & Ricardo Quaresma.
Chelsea 0-0 Valencia
Schalke 3-1 Rosenborg - Schal goals by Gerald Asamoah, Rafinha & Kevin Kuranyi. Rose goal by Yssouf Kone.
Real Madrid 3-1 Lazio - Real goals by Julio Baptista, Raul Gonzalez & Robinho. Laz goal by Goran Pandev.
Olympiacos 3-0 Bremen - goals by Ieroklis Stoltidis(2) & Darko Kovacevic.
-Wed Dec 12
Rangers 0-3 Lyon - goals by Sidney Govou & Karim Benzema(2).
Barcelona 3-1 Stuttgart - Bar goals by Giovanni dos Santos, Samuel Eto'o & Ronaldinho. Stut goal by Antonio Da Silva.
Roma 1-1 Man U - Roma goal by Mancini. Man U goal by Gerard Pique.
Sporting 3-0 Dynamo Kyiv - goals by Anderson Polga, Joao Moutinho & Liedson.
PSV 0-1 Inter - goal by Julio Cruz.
Fenerbahce 3-1 CSKA Moskva - Fen goals by Alex & Ugur Boral(2). CSKA goal by Edu(OG).
Arsenal 2-1 Steaua - Ars goals by Abou Diaby & Niklas Bendtner. Stea goal by Dorel Zaharia.
Slavia 0-3 Sevilla - goals by Luis Fabiano, Fredrick Kanoute & Daniel Alves.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here are the final CL Group standings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And these are the teams that will advance to the knockout stages:
#1 Seeds
Barcelona
Chelsea
Inter Milan
Manchester United
Milan
Porto
Real Madrid
Sevilla
#2 Seeds
Celtic
Liverpool
Olympiacos
Roma
Schalke
Arsenal
Lyon
Fenerbahce
-The CL Knockout Stage draw will take place on Fri Dec 21.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reviews yesterday's CL action, and calls Karim Benzema & Hatem Ben Arfa of Lyon (and France) the new Zidane. Yes, two players equal one Zizou - that seems about right!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Roma talked pretty big about making a statement with yesterdays game, but in the end they couldn't even beat Manchester United's (mostly) second string at home. Which statement exactly was it that they made? Oh right, that one: We're not that great!
-And Football Italia reports on even more fan violence in Italy at this match.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA.com has a Q & A with long time Inter Milan captain Javier Zanetti. He is one of the true gentlemen of the world game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times of London reports that Inter is being sued by some goofball because he says their "special" shirts (white with a red cross) are insulting to Muslims. The lawyer behind this lawsuit is serious, and he is upset.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So now we find out why Bayern keeper Oli Kahn was suspended by the club.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated with the brand new World Club Power Rankings. And he was completely right last time by NOT making Arsenal #1 as I suggested he should have.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Remember this dude who bought the London club West Ham last year, but creeped us all out by looking so damn alien? He sold his shares of the team today and is gone.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters with a story on the "special ball" being tested at the Club World Cup in Japan. I would be very curious to hear what the players in that tournament have to say.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lastly.... and DEFINITELY NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED: Have you ever imagined a day when you could see a picture of a statuette of Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho or Lionel Messi "takin a dump"? Well, then today is your lucky day. Sweet Fancy Moses, that's insane! (completely stolen from City Pages)

St. Bombasticus News

Let me say that I was dead wrong about Liverpool forward Fernando Torres. I had made the bold statement that he was not a big game player, and would shrivel up under the pressure at Liverpool. But for their sake, he has done the opposite. Great for him, good for the team. Can he now do it for Spain too?


The Dallas Morning News says FC Dallas was working on a deal to trade Carlos Ruiz to LA who would ship Joe Cannon to DC who would send Bobby Boswell to Dallas. But, the deal collapsed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post tells us what’s going on with current DC United keeper Troy Perkins. (Is he headed to Valarenga in Norway?)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And later Goff reports that Boswell has now been shipped off to Houston in exchange for that teams backup keeper Zach Wells. Which means that DC must figure they are going to lose Perkins, and are in need of a new starter.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales at Soccernet tells us what the LA Galaxy got out of their recent trip to Down Under.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two stories on the search for new coach in Chicago - Nick Firchau of the Southtown Star - and - the Daily Herald
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lacy Banks of the Chicago Sun Times on "How The Coach Stole Christmas". Starring Juan Carlos Osorio as the Grinch.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of his Red Card blog gets the latest from former Fire captain and now retired Chris Armas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS has announced the list of college players invited to their scouting combine. The event takes place Jan 11-15 in Fort Lauderdale Florida, and the draft takes places 3 days after, this year in Baltimore.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated on his Throw-In's blog gets us a little insider info on stadium progress in San Jose directly from team owner Lew Wolff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brad Rock of the Deseret Morning News with some words from Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts on the long hard road to building a stadium for his team. In the article Checketts says he would do a few things differently if he could do it all over again:
-Do a better job of educating people "more clearly as to what this project is about from the get-go."
-Do a little more P.R.-wise
-Focus more on the competitive side
Ummmmm, is there more to a team than this? I guess he didn't mention sales. So I guess that means that they got that one covered.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

San Jose has announced that they will play their first home game on April 12 v Chicago. But we still don't know about Week 1.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The San Mateo County Times has a story on high school soccer players who attended try-out camps for the San Jose Earthquakes this fall. It turns out that my California High School sports rules, they are now all ineligible to play high school soccer because they had a try-out with a professional team. Another reason to skip high school and college soccer and play for a great club.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Sacramento Bee also has a story on the Earthquakes and their awareness of the regional market.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Miami Today with a story that says MLS is serious about the chances of a new team in Miami.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Pacific Daily News of Guam with a story on one of those players that got away from MLS due to the low developmental salaries - Ryan Guy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U23 Friendlies
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Dec 13
China U23 v USA U23 in Changsha
-Sun Dec 16
China U23 v USA U23 in Guangzhou
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here is the U23 official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Today’s U23 team update from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And a transcript of a press conference with coach Petr Nowak & midfielder Sacha Kljestan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Club World Cup
-About the teams:
Urawa Red Diamonds - Japan - Host team & Asian Champions
Etoile Sportive du Sahal - Tunisia - African Champions
Boca Juniors - Argentina - CONMEBOL Champions
AC Milan - Italy - European Champions
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Dec 12 - Semifinals
Etoile 0-1 Boca Juniors - goal by Neri Cardozo.
Match report, video highlights, stats etc from FIFA.com
-Thu Dec 13 - Semifinals
Urawa v Milan
-Sun Dec 16 - Championship Match
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Dallas Morning News with a story on a Dallas kid who is making a name for himself in the Mexican 2nd division.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Champions League - Matchday 6 - The final round of the Group Stage.
-Tue Dec 11
Marseille 0-4 Liverpool - goals by Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt & Ryan Babel.
Porto 2-0 Besiktas - goals by Lucho Gonzalez & Ricardo Quaresma.
Chelsea 0-0 Valencia
Schalke 3-1 Rosenborg - Schal goals by Gerald Asamoah, Rafinha & Kevin Kuranyi. Rose goal by Yssouf Kone.
Real Madrid 3-1 Lazio - Real goals by Julio Baptista, Raul Gonzalez & Robinho. Laz goal by Goran Pandev.
Olympiacos 3-0 Bremen - goals by Ieroklis Stoltidis(2) & Darko Kovacevic.
-Wed Dec 12
Rangers v Lyon - live at 1:30pm central time on ESPN2.
Barcelona v Stuttgart - delayed at 4pm central time on ESPN Classic.
Roma v Man U - live at 1pm central time on Setanta.
Sporting v Dynamo Kyiv
PSV v Inter
Fenerbahce v CSKA Moskva - delayed at 5:30pm central time on Setanta.
Arsenal v Steaua - delayed at 3:45pm central time on Setanta.
Slavia v Sevilla
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here are the CL Group standings.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And these are the teams that have advanced to the knockout stages so far:
-#1 Seeds
Barcelona
Chelsea
Inter Milan
Manchester United
Milan
Porto
Real Madrid
(one spot still open - between Sevilla & Arsenal)
-#2 Seeds
Celtic
Liverpool
Olympiacos
Roma
Schalke
(three spots still open - one between Sevilla & Arsenal, one between Rangers & Lyon, and one between Fenerbache & PSV)
-The Knockout Stage draw will take place on Fri Dec 21.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Valencia has lost star striker David Villa indefinitely after tearing a thigh muscle. Oh, that must really hurt.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The word from Italy today is that Inter Milan have signed CSKA Moscow's Brazilian midfielder Daniel Carvalho. He will join the team for next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian gives us the full run down on probable England coach Fabio Capello.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And finally today, some thoughts on what players do during the offseason. From McSweeney's. (thanks to Pat for this gem)