Cracking The Ostrich Egg Is Tough News

According to Soccer America it looks like JP Dellacamera is going to replace Dave O'Brien as the lead announcer on all of ESPN 's MLS & USA games! This might be better news than any player signing. It also appears as though John Harkes will replace Eric Wynalda as the "color" commentator. The general consensus was that the Dellacamera-Harkes team was the best US TV commentators at the last World Cup. And could Bruce Arena join them?

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Turns out that there's a chance Landon Donovan's next USA may not break the USA all time goal scoring record. FIFA is not recognizing one of the game he played in a scored a goal. So according to USA Donovan is tied with Eric Wynalda at 34 goals, but according to FIFA Donovan only stands at 33.

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Is the USA going to play at Spain on June 4th? That would be great

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USA & Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan is going to Celtic next week for an up close and personal try out


MLS

LA has sold right back Chris Albright to New England. This is a great pick up by the Rev's.
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Pablo Mastroeni is on his way out the door from Colorado.
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The word on the street is that the Chicago Fire has hired 3 new staff - First off Frank Klopas has been hired as Technical Director, then Chris Armas & Mike Jeffries have been hired as new head coach Denis Hamlett's assistants. I think those are all great moves.
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A $2million price tag is going to keep any MLS team from signing Celtic's Polish striker Maciej Zurawski.
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Even though we new about this deal 2 weeks ago, its final now today - Real Salt Lake have sold forward Alecko Eskandarian to Chivas USA.
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Shawn Mitchell who covers the Columbus Crew for the Columbus Dispatch has launched a new soccer blog - Covering The Crew.
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Bob Hunter also of the Columbus Dispatch says Crew midfielder Eddie Gaven could be out the door to another MLS team. (middle of the article)
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Ann Killion of the San Jose Mercury News speculates on Landon Donovan ever returning to play for the Earthquakes. I'm sorry, but this is just grasping at straws. This is NOT happening. Not now, not ever. On the other hand at least its an article on the team.
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[CORRECTION CORRECTION CORRECTION] Great news for me and fellow Minnesota Thunder fans - The worst player in all of MLS last season, defender Adam Braz has re-signed with his old team in Montreal. Ok! Now we are talking. Not good enough to play defense in Toronto. That is saying something. I can't wait to heckle him again - he is one of the worlds great melt down artists. They come to St Paul on May 10! (Originally I wrote that he re-signed with Toronto, which was completely wrong. I got an avalanche of email correcting me on this one. Some chewed me out for picking on him. It seems that a lot of people care about Mr Braz. Good for him, seriously.)
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Forward Andy Herron will not be back with Columbus this season. So where is he?
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The Philadelphia Inquirer tries to ask and answer all the important questions about Philly's chance of landing an MLS team.
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MLS Superdraft

Former RSL GM Steve Pastorino at the Salt Lake Tribune says you need a backup plan for everything on draft day.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer says supporters group (with no team) the Sons Of Ben plan on storming the MLS draft in Baltimore today. Excellent.
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Former England coach Steve McClaren spoke last night at the convention affiliated with the Superdraft. ESPN has an article on what he talked about.
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Ian Plenderleith of the US Soccer Players Assoc has a Q & A with McClaren.
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Team USA

USA v Sweden - Sat Jan 19 at Home Depot Center in Carson CA - game time is 730pm central
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Official team blog.
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Goal.com previews the USA v Sweden match and takes a stab at guessing the USA starting 11.
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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America thinks the USA roster for the game this weekend is very thin. Via Sports Illustrated.
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USA U23 aka Olympic Team Training Camp - in Bradenton FL

U23 official blog.
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US Soccer gives us an update from the U23 camp.
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The Minnesota Thunder has signed midfielder Luchi Gonzalez. He played for a few MLS, Euro & First Div teams.
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Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail On Soccer blog writes 2 columns, one with his own questions about the Canadian Soccer Association, and a 2nd article about a radio show that featured Canadian Soccer Association chairman Dominic Maestracci and general secretary John Billingsley. They took questions from the public which was pretty brave considering what a mess Canadian soccer is in. Good stuff.
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Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated gives us a preview of the Mexican Clausura season which kicks off this weekend.
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Reuters with an article that says FIFA stand behind their man Jack Warner in his battle with the football association of the tiny island of Dominica. Dominica had filed a complaint about Warner's interference in their business.
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In a separate FIFA related matter, Reuters reports on 6 former FIFA employees who will go to trial in March after being charged with "embezzlement, fraud, fraudulent bankruptcy, harming creditors & falsification of documents." Is this the tip of the Iceberg?
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Copa Italia - Round of 16
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue Jan 15
Juventus 5-3 Empoli - Juve win 6-5 on aggregate.
-Wed Jan 16
Palermo 0-1 Udinese - Udi win 0-1 on agg.
Fiorentina 2-0 Ascoli - Fiore win 3-1 on agg.
Sampdoria 4-0 Cagliari - Samp adv 4-1 on agg.
Catania 1-1 Milan - Cat adv 3-1 on agg.
Roma 4-0 Torino - Roma adv 5-3 on agg.
-Thu Jan 17
Inter 3-0 Reggina - Inter adv 7-1 on agg. They must be furious about giving up that goal.
Napoli 1-1 Lazio - Laz adv 3-2 on agg.
-So Juve, Udinese, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Catania, Roma, Inter & Lazio advance to the Quarterfinal round.
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Top Goal Scorers in Europe’s big leagues:
La Liga
12 Luis Fabiano - Sevilla
11 Ruud van Nistelrooy - Real Madrid
11 Diego Milito - Zaragoza
10 Kahveci Nihat - Villarreal
10 Raul Tamudo - Espanyol
Bundesliga
10 Rafael Van der Vaart - Hamburg
9 Diego - Werder Bremen
9 Miroslav Klose - Bayern Munich
9 Luca Toni - Bayern Munich
8 Theofanis Gekas - Bayer Leverkusen
8 Mike Hanke - Hannover
8 Stanislav Sestak - Bochum
8 Mladen Petric - Borussia Dortmund
Serie A
10 David Trezeguet - Juventus
7 Kaka - Milan
7 Francesco Totti - Roma
7 Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Inter Milan
6 Marco Borriello - Genoa
6 Cristiano Doni - Atalanta
6 Adrian Mutu - Fiorentina
Eredivisie
18 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar - Ajax
14 Blaise N'Kufo - Twente
11 Robin Nelisse - Utrecht
11 Danny Koevermans - PSV
11 Roy Makaay - Feyenoord
11 Afonso Alves - Heerenveen
Premiership
16 Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United
14 Emmanuel Adebayor - Arsenal
11 Fernando Torres - Liverpool
10 Carlos Tevez - Manchester United
10 Roque Santa Cruz - Blackburn
10 Robbie Keane - Tottenham
10 Nicolas Anelka - Bolton/Chelsea
Ligue Un
13 Karim Benzema - Lyon
11 David Bellion - Bordeaux
10 Mamadou Niang - Marseille
10 Johan Elmander - Toulouse
10 Tulio De Melo - Le Mans
Portuguese Liga
12 Lisandro Lopez - Porto
8 Roland Linz - Braga
6 Joao Paulo - Uniao Leiria
6 da Silva Edinho - Vitoria Setubal
6 Miguel Nuno Gomes - Benfica
6 Ariza Makukula - Maritimo
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Big Euro Matches This Weekend
-Sat Jan 19
Villarreal v Valencia - the Valencia derby.
Hearts v Hibernian - the Edinburgh derby.
-Sun Jan 20
Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid - oh yeah, the Madrid derby and Atletico is looking good in 3rd place!
Sporting v Porto - a perennial powerhouse clash, with #2 v #1 this season.
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Talk in Liverpool has one of the teams two owners buying out the other - George Gillet will buy out Tom Hicks. We shall see.
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Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini gave his 17 year old son Filippo his debut in the teams 3-0 Copa Italia win over Reggina.
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Could Frenchman Gerard Houllier be named new coach of Ireland?
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Adriano scored both of his teams goals in a 2-1 win on his debut for Sao Paulo.
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The Telegraph of London with a story on Rio Ferdinand & Owen Hargreaves of Manchester United who helped out an inner-city football club. Great job guys.
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The Telegraph also has a story on Celtic's Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura who has been called a "genius".
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Readers of UEFA.com have voted these players as their starting 11 for 2007:
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid CF)
Daniel Alves (Sevilla FC)
Alessandro Nesta (AC Milan)
John Terry (Chelsea FC)
Eric Abidal (FC Barcelona)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United FC)
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool FC)
Kaka (AC Milan)
Clarence Seedorf (AC Milan)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (FC Internazionale Milano)
Didier Drogba (Chelsea FC)
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African Cup of Nations

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Sun Jan 20
Ghana v Guinea live at 11am central time.
-Mon Jan 21
Namibia v Morocco
Nigeria v Cote D’Ivoire
Mali v Benin
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du Nord's not very adventurous predictions on who will advance from the Group Stage
Group A: Ghana & Morocco are heavily favored over a decent Guinea & probably last place Namibia.
Group B: The toughest group - Nigeria & Cote d'Ivoire are favored, but Mali is a strong team, while Benin in the weakest link but they are not weak.
Group C: Defending champions Egypt & Cameroon are the favorites over Zambia & Sudan.
Group D: Tunisia & Senegal are probably the favorites, but both South Africa & Angola can advance too.
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In the USA the ACN can be seen on TV via 3ATeleSud. I can get it via Dish Network. It will cost you $15 to add this channel, so I say that you should sign up for it, watch the tournament and then cancel it. That's what I was gonna do, until they informed me that the signal was coming from a different satellite and I would need a $60 upgrade to pull it in. So much for that. Damnit all. You can also watch the games on line at Telesud.
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Sulaiman Folarin of Soccernet tries to solve the club v country conflict surrounding the ACN.
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Reuters with an article on what this ACN tournament can do for all of the host nation of Ghana, not just on the field.
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The Accra Daily Mail in Ghana says this is the moment of truth for their country.
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ADM also says their own national team was booted out of a hotel that they booked a long time ago so the hotel could crank up the prices.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune previews the tournament.
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The Independent of England previews the tournament.
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Greg Lalas writing on the New York Times Goal blog is off to the ACN and will be reporting in regularly.

The Notion News

Strong rumors coming from Fulham that Carlos Bocanegra is on his way OUT! Are they true? And where would he go?

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Oh Sweet Sonny Jim - Jack Bell of the New York Times is now connecting Brad Guzan to Fulham. Supposedly they will have scouts at the USA v Sweden game on Saturday. Will this Fulhamerica madness never end? On another hand I heard the name Brad Guzan and the team Bayern Munich linked as well.

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A stunning article from of Germany, translated by Big Soccer poster Fresh Aah - It all goes wrong for American leftback Heath Pearce at Hansa Rostock.

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Reuters is reporting that Dominica has filed an ethics complaint with FIFA against CONCACAF President Jack Warner. They say Warner is trying to force the leadership of the Dominica Federation to resign. Oh, Jack! What are you doing now you rascal.

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The Women's Professional Soccer league which is set to launch a year from now, has unveiled their website and league logo. Mia Hamm is the silhouette in that logo.



MLS

Houston's star midfielder Dwayne De Rosario was named Canadian Player Of The Year for the 3rd straight time! Huge for DDR!
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Real Salt Lake appears to have snatched up another South American - centerback Jamison Olave from Millonarios in Colombia. Possibly a loan deal.
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Bob Luder of the Kansas City Star with an article on the departure of Wizards leftback Jose Burciaga to Colorado.
-Luder says that KC is trying to sign Colombian striker Ivan Trujillo of Deportivo Cali.
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And KC may not be done cleaning house as the name of Sasha Victorine keeps popping up as trade bait.
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Oz City has a video of the new Kansas City shirt that shows it off even better than last weeks photo did. Thanks Brian.
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MetroFanatic is reporting that New York has picked up goalkeeper Zach Thornton, presumably as a back up. He rode the bench for Colorado last season.
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The Norwich Evening News in England confirms that Chicago goal keeper Matt Pickens is there for a try out.
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Is rightback Chris Albright going to be the next player shipped out of Los Angeles? Stay tuned.
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St Pauli in Bundesliga2 confirmed that Ian Joy has left the club. He is an American defender who has supposedly signed a deal with Real Salt Lake.
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On the season opening weekend FSC is going to do a doubleheader - New England v Houston followed by LA v Colorado. Great way to kick it all off.
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Don Cuddy at Soccer365 talks to former New England midfielder Andy Dorman who says he wanted to stay in MLS but could not get the contract he wanted to stay.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer says the Pennsylvania Governor has promised to help fund $50million toward a new MLS stadium.
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Adweek with a story on how MLS is launching mobile phone content for JAPAN!
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MLS Superdraft

John Harkes will be one of the ESPN2 announcers during the draft. When Harkes was on the weekly FSC highlight show he was atrocious. His idea of analysis was "Look at this!" and "Watch this!" Mr Ed could have done better. But at the 06 World Cup he really did a great job. I very much enjoyed the game I heard him do. Let's hope this is more like it. Good luck Harksy.
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The Ohio State Lantern has confirmed that Roger Espinoza has signed with MLS via Generation Adidas.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet with a draft preview.
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Buzz Carrick at Soccernet with his Top 20 prospects in the draft. He says forward Patrick Nyarko is the pick of the litter.
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Michael Lewis at MLSnet sums up the combine and sizes up the draft.
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The Baltimore Sun with an article on the Superdraft, which is happening in their city this year.
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Team USA

USA v Sweden - Sat Jan 19 at Home Depot Center in Carson CA - game time is 730pm central
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Official team blog.
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US Soccer with video from a full field intersquad scrimmage.
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US Soccer with some notes on the Sweden game.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet with an article on the cool calm confidence Bob Bradley is trying to give his team.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post has a story on USA & Aarhus forward Jeremiah White.
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US Soccer gives us a brief history of the teams first 499 games! Number 500 is Saturday.
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The US Soccer Players Assoc with an article that goes position by position to try and pick out a first 11 from the current camp.
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Greg Daurio at MLSnet with an article on Jozy Altidore's progress at the current USA camp.
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Andrew Dixon of the US Soccer Players Assoc examines Houston midfielder Ricardo Clark and how he fits into the future of Team USA.
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USA U23 aka Olympic Team Training Camp

U23 official blog.

I got several emails from readers telling me that the reason Lubos Kubik was scene with Peter Nowak at the MLS combine is that he is an assistant coach under Nowak for the USA U23 team. I don't remember ever reading about that. But one reader (Jeff) directed me to the US Soccer page that announced the teams roster for the current camp, and sure enough there is Kubik listed as an assistant. Was there ever an announcement? Thanks to everyone who pitched in to answer that question.
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MetroFanatic with a story on former Metro Star's midfielder Petter Villegas. He is actually in the running for a spot on a revamped Puerto Rico team. Villegas plays for the Puerto Rico Islanders in the First Division. (There are also some very odd names on the list of players PR is chasing for their national team.)
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FIFA.com has an article on the El Salvador national team. They have been through tough times lately. Are they ready to move up again?
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English FA Cup
12 matches that ended in tie scores last round will be replayed on Tue & Wed this week. Here are all the games.
-Several Americans are in action:
-Wed Jan 16
Man City 1-0 West Ham
-Jonathan Spector - was on the bench but did not play in his teams loss.
-Tue Jan 22
Bristol Rovers v Fulham
Sheffield Wednesday v Derby
-The 4th round will be played Jan 25, 26 & 27.
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Copa Del Rey - Round of 16
2nd leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jan 15
Barcelona 0-0 Sevilla - tied 1-1 on aggregate, so Barca advance on the away goals tiebreaker.
-Wed Jan 16
Levante 0-1 Getafe - Getafe advance 4-0 on aggregate.
Espanyol 1-1 Athletic Bilbao (1-1)
Racing Santander v Zaragoza - series ends tied 2-2, then Bilbao adv 4-3 on PK's.
Valencia 2-1 Betis - Valencia do something right and advance 4-2 on agg.
Valladolid 1-1 Atletico Madrid - series ends tied 1-1, but Atletico adv on away goals tie breaker.
Real Madrid 0-1 Mallorca - Mallorca pull of the enormous 3-1 aggregate upset to advance. Excellent.
Villareal 2-0 Recreativo Huelva - Villa adv 2-1 on agg.
-The Quarterfinals will be played over two legs on Jan 23 & 30.
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Copa Italia - Round of 16
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue Jan 15
Juventus 5-3 Empoli - Juve win 6-5 on aggregate.
-Wed Jan 16
Palermo 0-1 Udinese - Udi win 0-1 on agg.
Fiorentina 2-0 Ascoli - Fiore win 3-1 on agg.
Sampdoria 4-0 Cagliari - Samp adv 4-1 on agg.
Catania 1-1 Milan - Cat adv 3-1 on agg.
Roma 4-0 Torino - Roma adv 5-3 on agg.
-Thu Jan 17
Inter v Reggina (4-1)
Napoli v Lazio (1-2)
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Soccernet talks to former Fulham manager Chris Coleman about his short run at Real Sociedad. Why did it end so soon?
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Italian striker Christiano Lucarelli has also had a short run at the new home. He has departed Shakhtar Donetsk after only half a season to join Parma.
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An Olympiakos fan was killed by a Panathanikos fan after the two teams met in a league cup match last night. The guy was stabbed to death. Sad.
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Two from Rob Hughes at the International Herald Tribune. First on the return to the Milan line up of Ronaldo, which was overshadowed in print by the debut of The Duck, but on the field Ronaldo was incredible! AND An article on the agreement between UEFA/FIFA and European clubs on compensation for players involved in major tournaments - AKA the opening of the can of worms.
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Marina Hyde of the Guardian says the Liverpool ownership controversy should not be a surprise to any one.
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African Cup of Nations
-In the USA the ACN can be seen on TV via 3ATeleSud. I can get it via Dish Network. It will cost you $15 to add this channel, so I say that you should sign up for it, watch the tournament and then cancel it. That's what I am gonna do.
-Weblog That's On Point has been going Group by Group to break down each team.
-You can find previews of every time and heavy duty coverage of the ACN at the World Cup Blog. They have a special ACN section. Excellent,
-Our old pal Andrew Hush at Soccernet previews the team from South Africa.
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/feature?id=498587&cc=5901
-Paul Doyle of the Guardian with Group previews: Group A - Group B - Group C - Group D - [just added today] Group D
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Let us end today with the always insightful Steven Wells, or Swells to those of us in the know, of the Guardian with an article about the fact that many in America HATE soccer. And are not afraid to voice that ignorant opinion. Here is the first paragraph (note a slight touch of sarcasm): Soccer is a slow, boring, low-scoring, meaningless, super-sucky pseudo-sport played exclusively by lesbians, small children and homosexual Nazi psychopaths with bad haircuts. And terrorists. Children who play soccer all grow up to be "asshole incompetents" and "knock-kneed milksops" and "flopping on the ground, writhing-in-pain homos". Soccer is being forced on the American people by the sinister "global elite" secret world government. Soccer, in short, "sucks bat-shit off cave walls". And did we mention that it's gay?

When We Needed You Most News

Looks like young American midfielder Danny Szetela is headed out on load from Racing Santander. Sounds like a great idea to me as his playing time has been barely minimal. Now let's see where he goes.

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Benny Feilhaber is NOT going to play in Israel. His club Derby and Maccabi Tel Aviv could not reach a deal. But the club is talking to MLS about him coming home to play in America. Stay tuned. News from the Derby County website.

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Is anyone who follows MLS surprised to learn that Adrian Serioux owns a pit bull? I didn't think so. Name? Knuckles.


In listening to Glenn Davis' radio show on Monday night, the Houston Dynamo Power Hours, we learned that Dynamo forwards Joseph Ngwenya and now Nate Jaqua are pursuing overseas deals. Ngwenya has had insufficient offers but nothing else concrete has happened yet.

The reason Polish forward Maciej Zurawski has not made a move to a MLS team (LA & Columbus have both been mentioned) is that Celtic want $2 million for him. That's not gonna happen.

More heavy rumor mill action: 2 things from Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog - "Morelia [of Mexico] is trying to acquire DC United's Luciano Emilio, which would be quite a feat considering he is under contract here and would command a large transfer fee. Ridiculous. Word out of Chile is that Columbus's Marco Gonzalez wants to join Universidad Catolica."

It's official now - KC sends left full back Jose Burciaga to Colorado for a 2nd round draft pick.

Dan Loney at the US Soccer Players Assoc takes a look at the failed Taylor Twellman transfer to Preston in England. He goes after the leagues overall low low low salaries. One thing I have to say on this subject, and excuse me if you have heard this all before, but Preston are lowballing MLS on Twellman's fee, and this tactic has to be stopped. Too bad its happening to guys like Shalrie Joseph last year and Twellman now, but the only way to stop it is to say no to these ridiculously low offers.

A picture of Cuauhtemoc Blanco in the new Best Buy sponsored Chicago shirt. I guess I am surprised to see they didn't slap that big Yellow Tag Best Buy logo on there. Although it might just look like a big ol' Yellow Card. (I am not sure who sent me this, but a note to whoever posted it -I stole it, and I thank you greatly for sharing it with all of us.)

-Here are a couple more photos of Fire players in the new kit. This link is from ImSeeinRed on the Section 8 message board.

Nick Firchau of the Chicago Sun Times writes about the impact a front of shirt sponsor could have.

Chicago Fire has produced a tribute video to recently retired Chris Armas. I hope the team brings him back to get a nice standing ovation from the crowd this season. Thanks to Luis for tipping us off to this.

Grahame Jones of the LA Times with a story on the Galaxy's acquisition of forward Carlos Ruiz from Dallas.

Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America on the return of Carlos Ruiz to Los Angeles. You have to imagine that Ruiz is ecstatic.

Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram on the departure of Ruiz from Dallas.

Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News also on Ruiz.
-Dallas coach Steve Morrow admitted that the team has been in talks with Argentine forward Claudio Lopez.

According to Steven Goff of the Washington Post, little known DC United developmental player Bryan Arguez has been sold to Hertha Berlin in Germany. Awesome for him. Really brutal for us when kids like this are bailing and the league plans to add 2 mores teams in the next 2 years. We needs these guys to stay.

The San Jose Mercury News with the story on the Earthquakes acquiring defender Nick Garcia from Kansas City yesterday.

The Merc News also talks to EQuakes keeper Joe Cannon about his return to San Jose.

The Ohio State Lantern with an article on their alum, Dallas keeper Ray Burse.

Aaaaaaaahhhh, the Zidane stories are back again. I saw a rumor article about Zidane coming out of retirement the other day, but chose to ignore it, hoping it would go away. But like herpes it's back again for Round 11. Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports this time.

Jack Bell of the New York Times with an article on Colorado keeper Bouna Coundoul who is at the African Cup of Nations with his native Senegal. Coundoul is the only MLS player in the tournament.
-Bell with a little more on Coundoul on the Times Goal blog.

The Real Salt Lake preseason will look something like this: Salt Lake City, Oxnard CA, Sunrise FL, Rosario Argentina

MLS Combine
Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree with his Day 3 recap.
Jen Chang at Soccernet with a wrap up. He says defenders are the best bet.
Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives with his Day 3 review.

Steven Goff at the Insider blog talks to potential #1 overall pick Patrick Nyarko.

I have been told by some sources that Ohio State's Roger Espinoza has signed with MLS via Generation Adidas. But he was not on that list MLS published and if he signed after the list had been released then they have not found a reason to let us know that. We shall see.

Word has very quietly leaked out that ESPN2 will be broadcasting the first round of the MLS Superdraft starting at 1pm central time on Fri Jan 18.

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with his Chicago Fire draft preview.
-Arroyave also looks at how other teams are sitting.

Steve Davis at MLSnet calls this draft unpredictable.

Jeff Bradley at MLSnet with his First XI - the best of the Superdraft.

Guamster on Big Soccer posted a link to a video interview with Seattle part-owner Drew Carey on the Craig Ferguson show.

Where are they now: The Voice in Botswana catches up with local & former MLS player Dipsy Selolwane who has joined Jomo Cosmos in South Africa. They loooooove their Dipsy. (second story down)

The Miami Herald says that a potential MLS team in that city will now have an option on where to play - a second home is being bandied about.

Grahame Jones of the LA Times with his weekly world soccer news recap - Corner Kicks.

Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune with his weekly round up - Trophies, Red Cards & Notes.

Ravi Ubha of the Seattle Post Intelligencer with his weekly world soccer news roundup.

USA Training Camp in Carson CA
-Official team blog.
-US Soccer has an audio interview with coach Bradley, plus Landon Donovan & Jimmy Conrad. Listen to or download here.
-Official training photos from the 12th and 15th.

I noticed something very interesting in those photos - Clarence Goodson is in them. We were told he left to go to Norway to sign with Start. So I guess that means he is back! Great effort on his part.

Dave Lifton at the US Soccer Players Assoc does a Q & A with former USA great and now TV guy Eric Wynalda.

Ives Galarcep writing for the Herald News says Giuseppe Rossi has until Feb 1 to change his mind and play for the USA national team instead of Italy. Galarcep says it will be Italy.

Word from the Netherlands is that Michael Bradley has turned down contract extensions from his club Heerenveen, so the club will look to sell him next summer. Let's hope his current season continues as it is now, and he goes somewhere excellent.

Jeffrey Marcus of the New York Times Goal blog looks at the brutal seasons being had by the clubs and some of our Yanks Abroad.

USA U23 aka Olympic Team Training Camp - in Bradenton FL
-U23 official blog.

The LA Times with a great article on the next battle ground for American youth soccer development - club v school.

The USA U18 team will hold a big training camp in Bradenton FL Jan 17-24. An incredible 72 players were invited. How do you work with that many? Here is the roster. The one thing that bums me out is that not one kid from Minnesota is on that list.

English FA Cup
12 matches that ended in tie scores last round will be replayed on Tue & Wed this week. Here are all the games.
-Several Americans are in action:
-Tue Jan 15
Reading 0-1 Tottenham
-Marcus Hahnemann sat this one out.
-Bobby Convey went the distance in the losing effort.
Millwall 2-1 Walsall
-Zak Whitbread did not dress for the win.
-Wed Jan 16
Man City v West Ham
-Tue Jan 22
Bristol Rovers v Fulham
Sheffield Wednesday v Derby
-The 4th round will be played Jan 25, 26 & 27.

Another American involved in a Cup match was Oguchi Onyewu who's team Standard beat Genk 2-0 and will advance to the Quarterfinals.

American defender Zak Whitbread signed a new 2 1/2 contract extension with Millwall.

Copa Del Rey - Round of 16
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue Jan 15
Barcelona 0-0 Sevilla - tied 1-1 on aggregate, so Barca advance on the away goals tiebreaker.
-Wed Jan 16
Levante v Getafe (0-3)
Espnayol v Athletic Bilbao (1-1)
Racing Santander v Zaragoza (1-1)
Valencia v Betis (2-1)
Valladolid v Atletico Madrid (0-0)
Real Madrid v Mallorca (1-2)
Villareal v Recreativo Huelva (0-1)

Copa Italia - Round of 16
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue Jan 15
Juventus 5-3 Empoli - Juve win 6-5 on aggregate.
-Wed Jan 16
Palermo 0-1 Udinese - Udi win 0-1 on agg.
Fiorentina 2-0 Ascoli - Fiore win 3-1 on agg.
Sampdoria v Cagliari (0-1)
Catania v Milan (2-1)
Roma Torino (1-3)
-Thu Jan 17
Inter v Reggina (4-1)
Napoli v Lazio (1-2)

Kevin Keegan has been hired again as the manager of Newcastle. He was their coach in the mid 90's and did fairly well.

Michael Hann of the Guardian places the blame for recent Newcastle failure at the feet of legendary ex-player Alan Shearer.

Ex-Fulham manager Chris Coleman has been fired from his job running Real Sociedad in Spain. Just a couple weeks ago he said he would be there until at least the end of the season. So much for that. Sociedad currently sit in 5th place in the Segunda Division (2nd div).

Manchester City has made young German star striker Lukas Podolski their next transfer project. Podoloski can't get a game at his club Bayern Munich because he is behind Miroslav Klose & Luca Toni.

A very interesting new agreement has been signed by FIFA & UEFA for "financial contributions [to the clubs] for player participation in UEFA European Championships and FIFA World Cups." This could be very very big. I would assume all the other confederations will be pressured to follow suit, but what will it do for small teams that have success. And what about qualifiers and friendly matches. Will there be compensation for that too?

The Telegraph of England has an interview with Croatian coach Slaven Bilic. And one this Bilic makes perfectly clear is that he feels English players are to blame for their defeats, not management or "the system".

Gregory Sica at Sports Illustrated tells us about the Latino power behind the mighty Inter Milan. I love this aspect of the team, it sure wouldn't be the same if it was all Italians I tell you that much. As a matter of fact they only have 1 Italian in the real first team (which goes about 20 players deep), and that is the massively hated/loved Marco Matterazi.

In the calendar year 2007, Inter Milan only lost 1, yes 1, Serie A game, and amassed an incredible 92 points. Impressive.

African Cup of Nations
-In the USA the ACN can be seen on TV via 3ATeleSud. I can get it via Dish Network.
-Jack Bell of the New York Times with an article on Colorado keeper Bouna Coundoul who is at the ACN with his native Senegal.
-Bell with a little more on Coundoul on the Times Goal blog.
-The Ghanaian Chronicle says "beware the Yellow Card" (which they hilariously call "The Materazzi's").
-Business Day of Africa previews Group B.
-Reuters with a story from Guinea where a bus caravan for fans heading to Ghana has been canceled due to the huge threat of highway bandits in Ivory Coast. Sad.
-Paul Doyle of the Guardian with Group previews: Group A - Group B - Group C - Group D(coming tomorrow)

Crampin' What Little Style Is Left News

Dallas has sold forward Carlos Ruiz back to the Los Angeles Galaxy. The got Ruiz 3 years ago in the deal that freed up money for LA to sign Landon Donovan. Now they have em both.

~and~

The deal for forward Eddie Johnson to be sold to Fulham is nearly done. Expect it to be all set tomorrow. Kansas City has a lot of work on their hands. Can you believe that FFC will now have 5 Americans on their team?!?! They better not get relegated or our country will look pretty lame.

~and~

Which brings us to this - San Jose has traded the #1 overall pick in Friday's Superdraft to Kansas City for center back Nick Garcia. And KC didn't stop there, as Ives Galarcep of Soccer By Ives is reporting that KC is shipping left back Jose Burciaga off to Colorado.


Fox Soccer Channel is going to broadcast a live show from the NSCAA convention in Baltimore this Thursday night. They did the same thing last year and it ended up being pretty cool with lots of guests, so scheduled, some impromptu. See it live at 7pm Thu Jan 17 on FSC. The host will be my man Max Bretos, and hopeful guests include Don Garber, Francisco Marcos, Dom Kinnear & more.
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MLS Ringleader Don Garber will be the guest tomorrow on Voice Of America's next chat session. Here's the details on how to check it out.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe is reporting that New England has declined to pick up the option on the contract of forward Pat Noonan. I would assume that they would be willing to re-sign him at a lower pay rate.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In a sure sign that things are changing in soccer in America, the Boston Herald has a big story on Taylor Twellman's divorce. Wha? I am not linking to that. I almost feel about even mentioning it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card Blog has a few words with Fire coach Denis Hamlett.
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The Examiner has a quickie Q & A with San Jose manager Frank Yallop.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times with a story on former USA & MLS great Eddie Pope and his life after the field. Plus other USA & World soccer notes.
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Nick Firchau of the Chicago Southtown Star on the Fire's deal to put a Best Buy logo on the front of their shirts. The deal looks very lucrative to me.
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Paul Gardner of the New York Sun gives us his thoughts on the first season of Beckman in America.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Robert Wagman of the Soccer Times says MLS has spent too much time worrying about parity, and not enough on quality. I think they started to address that last season and have every intention of upping the quality from here on out. To me Wagman is two years late with this article.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The MLS Superdraft will take place this Friday, Jan 18, in Charm City.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle looks at what the Dynamo might do in this weeks Superdraft.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger looks at what the New York Red Bulls might do in this weeks Superdraft.
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Michael Lewis of the New York Daily News also looks at what the New York Red Bulls might do in this weeks draft.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet with a draft preview.
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Steve Davis of Soccernet with his list of the Top Ten unearthed gems in draft history.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pat Walsh of Goal.com goes through the archives and looks at past #1 over all draft picks.
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After 5 incredibly hard working years, Robert Zeigler has shut down his site Top Drawer Soccer. The good news thought is that his work will continue at 2 other sites: USFC, about elite youth soccer, and Soccer Capital, giving a cultural flair to the game in America with video, music, games and gear.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA Training Camp in Carson CA
-Official team blog.
-I missed this one - Sweden won in Costa Rica at Saprissa Stadium 0-1 on Sunday. Sweden got their goal from Samuel Holmen. The match was a tribute and farewell match for long time Costa Rican forward Paulo Wanchope.
-With Eddie Johnson's departure for England that makes 3 players from this training camp that have left to explore new club options - Clarence Goodson signed with Start in Norway, and Matt Pickens has interest from at least Norwich and possibly others.
-We also hear that Danny Califf is having problems with a hamstring strain.
-Yanks Abroad talks to Toronto defender Marvell Wynne about his time in the current USA training camp.
-Nick Green of the LA Daily News writes about the types of players in the current USA camp.
-Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog has a few quotes from Fire & USA forward Chris Rolfe about the training camp. Rolfe comments on a few teammates too.
-Andrew Rogers of Soccer365 does a Q & A with USA & Sheffield Wednesday defender Frank Simek. The entire conversation is about his days in the Arsenal youth system though.
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The possible first USA opponent in World Cup Qualifying, Barbados, won a friendly over the weekend, 3-2 over Antigua & Barbuda.
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USA U23 aka Olympic Team Training Camp - in Bradenton FL
-U23 official blog.
-The U23's scrimmaged the USA U17's the other day and beat them 7-1. Goals were scored by Charlie Davies(2), Arturo Alvarez, Chad Barrett(2, 1 on PK), Robbie Rogers & Johann Smith. U17 goal by Jack McInherney.
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Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle talks to American midfielder Clint Dempsey about life at Fulham.
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Yanks Abroad talks to American defender Heath Pearce about the upcoming second half to his first season at Hansa Rostock. target="new" ONCLICK="out=false"
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise raves about the game & the crowd on the final weekend of InterLiga.
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English FA Cup
12 matches that ended in tie scores last round will be replayed on Tue & Wed this week. Here are all the games.
-Several Americans are in action:
-Tue Jan 15
Bristol Rovers v Fulham
Sheffield Wednesday v Derby
Reading v Tottenham
-Wed Jan 16
Man City v West Ham
-The 4th round will be played Jan 25, 26 & 27.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with several hot topics today:
-The quality of football being played in the English Championship division - It's not good.
-Jonathan Wilson gives us the low down on life in Bulgarian soccer.
-Ben Lyttleton on the power struggles of the wealthy in French football.
-Kevin McCarra tells us that Avram Grant has made Chelsea less hateable.
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Will former Liverpool & Lyon manager Gerard Houllier take over Newcastle? Odds would be better if the name started with an L. Lewcastle maybe.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil Ball at Soccernet recaps the first half to this La Liga season - he calls it remarkable.
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Brian Glanville writing for World Soccer gives us some insight into new Fulham manager Roy Hodgson.
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Here is a picture of those new colored Nike shoes I talked about yesterday.
-And now the USA national team blog has an entry on these shoes. Landon Donovan's got his new shoes and there is a close up picture of them, and there is also a video clip of a new Crisitiano Rolando commercial with them featured. They look nuts.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

African Cup of Nations
-The San Antonio Express News of all newspapers with an ACN preview.
-Business Day of Africa previews Group A.
-Reuters Soccer Blog with an article on some of the more interesting coaches.

Newsflash: Pescado Back To LA

Dallas has sold forward Carlos Ruiz back to LA.

Here is the official press release.

More later.

Coffee Is Thought To Be An Upper News

Steven Goff is reporting that "Kansas City's Eddie Johnson has left U.S. national team camp in L.A. and is in serious negotiations with English club Fulham". From the Soccer Insider. So we would have 5 Americans on one team in England, and that team is in serious danger of being relegated. Doesn't sound so hot to me. FYI - Twellman has scored 91 goals in 156 MLS games.

~and~

After only a few months and even fewer appearances Benny Feilhaber looks to be leaving Derby County. The destination is rumored to be Maccabi Tel Aviv. Oof. By the way, this is the team of du Nord fave Dedi Ben Dayan who played in Colorado.

~and~

And to add to that rumor is another rumor saying Jonathan Bornstein of Chivas USA is headed to that same Israeli club on trial. Are you kidding me? Not to mention the fact that Jonny B just had ankle surgery and is out of action.

~and~

COMIN' UP FAST: USA v Sweden - Sat Jan 19 - 7:30pm central on Fox Soccer Channel. I will most likely be out and about in the Twin Cities to watch this one, and I will post my location some time this week (once I take a couple minutes to figure it out.)


Here is the ballot from the National Soccer Hall of Fame for potential inductees in 2008. Who you gonna vote for?
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Buzz Carrick of the 3rd Degree talked to Dallas coach Steve Morrow about the rumor that forward Kenny Cooper wants out, but Morrow says that is a false rumor.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

News from Dallas also tells us that the team has re-signed midfielder Arturo Alvarez. He had been looking at some overseas chances. Excellent. Now let's see if he can take last years break out and make it real.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet with more on the denied transfer of Taylor Twellman to Preston. I think its horrible that the league and his team turned this offer down. On the other hand $2.5 million is not nearly enough. They are lowballing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Emlyn Lewis at Soccer New England gives his opinion on the Twellman non-transfer story.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Embele Awipi of the Salinas Californian with an article on San Jose's re-building of team and stadium.
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Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times on his Korner Pocket blog has a Q & A with Chivas USA defender Lawson Vaughn.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cardenas also had a Q & A last week with Chivas midfielder Sacha Kljestan that I missed. Thanks for this stuff Jaime.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Firchau at the Chicago Sun Times talks to Fire pres John Guppy about the hiring of new coach Denis Hamlett.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Davy Arnaud of Kansas City will not be able to start running for another month yet after having surgery to fix a microfracture. Those things keep basketball players out of the game for a year! Let's hope he gets healed real quick like.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch on the Merry-Go-Round that is the story of Guillermo Barros Schelotto and his contract with the Crew. Is he staying? Or going? It seems to change as often as I change underwear, about once a week.
-Mitchell also reports that Celtic's Polish striker Maciej Zurawski who had been linked to the LA Galaxy may now be linked to Columbus.
-And the Crew will hold their preseason training in Bradenton FL, then California, England & Louisiana.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Apple Soccer says that Colombian newspaper El Pais is reporting that New York is signing Atletico Cordoba forward Luis Carlos Cabezas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For their preseason the New York Red Bulls will travel to LA, Salzburg Austria (the Red Bull mothership) & finish off at the Carolina Challenge Cup in Charleston SC.
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The Offside Rules has a Q & A with Chris Rolfe. It is not your usual soccer X's & O's. Or kisses and hugs for that matter.
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Former New England midfielder Andy Dorman made his debut for St Mirren in Scotland this weekend, coming on as a late sub in his teams 3-0 win over Dumbarton in the 4th Round of the Scottish Cup.
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Richard Snowden at Soccer365 says MLS needs to get teams into Copa Libertadores. I could not agree more. But first we need to figure out a level of importance for all the other tournaments suddenly piling up around us. US Open Cup, CONCACAF Champions Cup, SuperLiga & next we will get the CONCACAF Champions League. Maybe the simple answer is that we scrap the league and go all tournaments? That way critics can't say that too many games don't have enough meaning!
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TV Sports Daily wonders about the increase in foreign player allotments for MLS teams. Good or bad? (I think one of the things that hurts the NHL's popularity so much is all the foreign players from northern and eastern Europe.)
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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America tells us about the owners of the new San Jose Earthquakes. Via Sports Illustrated.
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The Houston Chronicle with the latest on Dynamo stadium talk.
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The St Louis Dispatch with a really good article about the potential MLS in St Louis owner Jeff Cooper. But this guy does not have the $$$ to make it happen.
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MLS Combine
Reports from the guys with the knowledge:
-Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree with his recaps - Day One and Day Two.
-Jen Chang at Soccernet gives us his thoughts on Day 1 and Day 2 of the combine.
-Ives Galarcep at Soccer By Ives on Day One parts 1 and 2 and Day Two parts 1 and 2.
-And Ives looks at who might want to grab the first pick from San Jose.
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One of the top college players the past few years, Joe LaPira of Notre Dame, is not at the combine and is said to be searching for a club in Europe.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Galarcep spotted Mike Jeffries & Frank Klopas at the combine with new Chicago coach Denis Hamlett. They were supposedly head coach candidates along with Hamlett, so could they be new assistants instead? Hamlett was later spotted with Peter Nowak & Lubos Kubik. What was Kubik doing there?
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Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com with his take on the upcoming MLS Superdraft.
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The Minnesota Thunder announced their 15 home game schedule today. Make your travel plans now to come see me and my gang.
-Sunday, May 4, 5:05 p.m., Rochester Rhinos, James Griffin Stadium
-Saturday, May 10, 7:05 p.m., Montreal Impact, James Griffin Stadium
-Saturday, May 24, 7:05 p.m., Miami FC, National Sports Center
-Saturday, May 31, 7:05 p.m., Vancouver Whitecaps, James Griffin Stadium
-Saturday, June 14, 7:35 p.m., Atlanta Silverbacks, National Sports Center
-Friday, July 11, 7:05 p.m., Carolina Railhawks, James Griffin Stadium
-Sunday, July 20, 5:05 p.m., Rochester Rhinos, James Griffin Stadium
-Thursday, July 24, 7:05 p.m., Seattle Sounders, James Griffin Stadium
-Sunday, July 27, 5:05 p.m., Puerto Rico Islanders, James Griffin Stadium
-Saturday, August 2, 7:05 p.m., Portland Timbers, James Griffin Stadium
-Thursday, August 7, 7:05 p.m., Charleston Battery, James Griffin Stadium
-Sunday, August 10, 5:05 p.m., Seattle Sounders, James Griffin Stadium
-Friday, August 22, 7:05 p.m., Carolina Railhawks, James Griffin Stadium
-Saturday, September 13, 7:05 p.m., Charleston Battery, James Griffin Stadium
-Saturday, September 20, 7:05 p.m., Montreal Impact, James Griffin Stadium
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USA Training Camp in Carson CA
-Official team blog.
-Training photos from Friday.
-One on one video interview with New England defender Michael Parkhurst. (Video player is over in the top right corner of the linked page.)
-The Daily Pilot of Newport Beach CA with an article on their local player Zach Wells who is at the USA Training camp.
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Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports says that US Soccer missing out on hiring Juergen Klinsmann was a bad thing.
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USA U23 aka Olympic Team Training Camp - in Bradenton FL
-U23 official blog.
-Julian Valentin has left the U23 camp after re-opening one his is facial wounds that he suffered a month ago when he got kicked in the face. At that time he needed a lot of stitches to seal him up.
-Goalkeeper Dominic Cervi has been asked to join the U23 camp after impressing everyone on the first 2 days of the MLS combine. He is from Tulsa. I think it's great that a camp like this can be so flexible.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Interliga
Semifinal Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jan 12
San Luis 0-3 Atlas - goals by Bruno Marioni y Jorge Achucarro(2).
America 3-3 Cruz Azul - Amer win 5-3 on PK's. - Amer goals by Salvador Cabanas(2, one on PK) & Rodrigo Lopez. Cruz goals by Cesar Villaluz, Jaime Lozano(PK) & Gerardo Lugo.
-The two winners are now qualified for la Copa Libertadores.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ivan Orozco of the LA Daily News with a match report.
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise chimes in with his match report.
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The Mexican 2008 Clausura kicks off on Friday Jan 18. Yes, already.
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Monterrey has pulled off a coup and hired former Mexican national team coach Ricardo La Volpe to run their club. Woooohoooo. He has that incredible Latino men's fashion gift for a graying mullet, jeans, midchest unbuttoned shirt, sport coat and cigarettes (sorry, but he just threw his jacket to the ground in disgust in this picture). Now that is sexy. The only thing that makes this story better is that the coach Monterrey just fired is named Isaac Mizrahi. Too bad it wasn't this guy.
-Remember La Volpe is the man who said his grandmother could play for the USA. Damn, she must be good.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans in Europe - how'd their recent matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on in the 79th minute of another disappointing match, a scoreless home draw with Leixos.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - started and distracted the keeper enough to allow a free kick to go directly into the goal, but after only 14 minutes he had to come out with big gash under his left eye from an elbow, the team went on to give up yet another lead and lose 2-1 to West Ham.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - started, went the 90, and scored his teams 1st goal in a 2-2 road draw at Utrecht.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - came on as a sub in the 73rd minute but they lost again, 3-1 at Aston Villa.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played all 90 minutes of yet another loss, this one 2-1 at West Ham.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played all 90 minutes of a 1-0 loss at Preston.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - did not dress for his teams 0-1 home loss to Wigan. He appears to be heading out the door at any moment as well.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - in goal as always and winning 1-2 at Bolton.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went all 90 they lost again, 3-1 at Aston Villa.
-Tim Howard - Everton - went the whole match, and again kept the net empty as they beat Manchester City 1-0 at home.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - did not leave the bench for his teams 0-1 home loss to Wigan.
-Clint Mathis - Ergotolis - I am fairly sure he is not even in Greece yet, but his new team got only their 2nd win of the season, 1-0 over Iraklis. They are in last place.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - started and played the whole match, but it looked bad early on as he gave up a silly foul that was converted for a goal on a nice free kick, in the end though they won 2-1 over Fulham and that’s all that really matters.
-Danny Szetela - Racing Santander - was on the bench but did not play in a 0-2 win at Osasuna.
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Copa Del Rey - Round of 16
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Wed Jan 16
Barcelona v Sevilla (1-1)
Villareal v Recreativo Huelva (0-1)
Levante v Getafe (0-3)
Espnayol v Athletic Bilbao (1-1)
Racing Santander v Zaragoza (1-1)
Valencia v Betis (2-1)
Real Madrid v Mallorca (1-2)
Valladolid v Atletico Madrid (0-0)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English League/Carling Cup - Semifinals
2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Wed Jan 16
Everton v Chelsea (1-2)
Tottenham v Arsenal (1-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English FA Cup - 3rd Round
12 matches that ended in tie scores last round will be replayed on Tue & Wed this week. Here are all the games.
-Several Americans are in action:
-Tue Jan 15
Bristol Rovers v Fulham
Sheffield Wednesday v Derby
Reading v Tottenham
-Wed Jan 16
Man City v West Ham
-The 4th round will be played Jan 25, 26 & 27.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro Matches Last Weekend:
Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham - one of the London derby's and it has more meaning than ever these days as Chelsea tries to stay with the leaders, and Spurs try to regain some real footing.
Feyenoord 0-1 PSV - the two top dogs battle it out in Holland. #2 v #1.
Caen 0-0 Nancy Lorraine - the two big surprise teams this season, and they sit at #4 & #2
Ajax 6-1 AZ Alkmaar - the third place team in the Eredivisie tries to keep pace, while the surprise team of the past 2 seasons tries to get it going again.
Olympiakos 1-1 Panathinaikos - the biggy of the weekend, cuz not only are the bitter rivals, but they sit at #1 & #2 in the table, with only 1 point between them. But the tie game allowed AEK to leap frog them into the top spot.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Lalas at Goal.com got to watch his big Greek derby. At Roggie's in Boston.
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African Cup of Nations
-The group stage begins on Sunday in Ghana.
-The Accra Daily Mail in Ghana gives us their list of the players to watch. Here is Group A.
-Didier Drogba played for Cote d'Ivoire in a warmup v Kuwait and scored a goal. Is he fully healed?
-The Telegraph of England looks at the team from Sudan - a country that is nearly destroyed due to war, yet made it through qualifying.
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Al Bangura of Watford who was being threatened with deportation back to his native Sierra Leone has been let off the hook, and given a work permit. Good.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with the MetroStars all time greatest player, German legend Lothar Matthaus.
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Real Zaragoza has fired their coach. Unless you are a die hard you have never heard of him, and they replaced him with a former player that only the die hards will know of. So why am I writing this? Cuz they could be good.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Several from the Guardian:
-Sid Lowe tells us that Valencia aren't the biggest mess in Spain. That honor goes to Levante who only share a city with Valencia.
-The debut of The Duck in Milan.
-Raphael Honigstein ponders the Klinsmann to Bayern hiring.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tim Vickery at the BBC gives his raves to man-child Alexandre Pato of Milan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Did ya see the newest color of Nike boots this weekend? I guess I would call them Orange-Copper Sunburst. They were worn by both you Nike endorsing stars: Cristiano Ronaldo & Pato. I would expect that we will see some American's in these new shoes v Sweden on Saturday.
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Football Italia with their list of winners and losers from Week 18 in Serie A.
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Inter has signed midfielder Nuno Maniche from Atletico Madrid.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Milan finally broke their ignominious streak of not having won a home game yet this season. They were 0 for 7, and had scored only 3 home goals. But yesterday they beat Napoli 5-2 to crush all of that. On top of it all Ronaldo got his first start of the season and scored twice. Some kid played for them too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Insider at Soccernet tells us what Chelsea's signing of forward Nicolas Anelka means for the long run.
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The Observer with an article on some Arab businessmen from Dubai who just may swoop in and but Liverpool from Hicks & Gillet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And David James, the Portsmouth keeper, at the Observer writes about the almost departure of his manager Harry Redknapp.

Foods Of The Ottoman Empire News

Chicago has finally handed over the reigns of their team to long time loyal assistant coach Denis Hamlet. It's about frickin time they gave him a shot. He has worked under every other coach in the teams history. Good luck amigo.

~and~

Steve Goff of the Washington Post talks to New England forward Taylor Twellman about the league & his team turning down a supposed improved offer of around $2.5 million for him by Preston in England. Needless to say, Twellman is pissed off. From the Soccer Insider blog.

~and~

Grinsi gets a job! - Bayern Munich has hired Juergen Klinsmann to be their next coach. Current boss Ottmar Hitzfeld is set to retire at the end of this season, and Klinsi will take over this summer.

~and~

There is a poll on the front of the LA Times Sports section call "Survivor". It asks reader: "If you had to vote for one team to leave town and never return, which team would it be?" And guess who was elimidated in the very first round? Yes it was, Chivas USA. Wow, and sad. On the other hand, you know who is leading the voting in the second round? The Lakers. Double Wow! Maybe it's OK to be eliminated early.

~and~

Here is something I find really disappointing - Ives Galarcep leaves the North Jersey Herald News and they not only don't hire anyone to replace him, but they dump their entire Soccer section. Booooooooooooooooooooooooo!


I keep hearing that Kenny Cooper wants OUT of Dallas. Is this true? (And now I see that Glenn Davis has a mention of this on his blog as well.) Cooper has been in England training with his old club Manchester United.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cleetus has gone Greek! Clint Mathis has departed the LA Galaxy without even unpacking his bags and signed with Greek club Ergotolis (who I have frankly never even heard of). Good luck you old beer swillin' maniac. We wish you the best.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another young American player has flown the MLS coop - Clarence Goodson, who was recently claimed by San Jose in the their expansion draft, has decided to go to northern Europe and has signed with Norwegian 2nd division team Start.
-Goodson shares a few words with the USA official team blog on his departure.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stories from Chicago on the hiring of Denis Hamlett:
Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune.
Arroyave also on his Red Card blog with some thoughts on the Hamlett hiring, and then some direct quotes from Hamlett himself & Chicago GM John Guppy.
Nick Firchau of the Chicago Sun Times & Southtown Star.
Chicago Daily Herald.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The San Jose Mercury News on the return of goalkeeper Joe Cannon to the Earthquakes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch gives us a Columbus Crew story for the second day in a row. That may be a Crew off-season record. Today we learn about the teams search for new players.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two Chivas USA players had surgery this week - Jonathan Bornstein on his left ankle, and Maykel Galindo on a hernia.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chivas also gave their coach Preki a contract extension. No details are known. But this much is known - Preki is a card carrying member of the AARP, and was while still playing for Kansas City.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News says Salt Lake has all but finalized deals for two new players including American defender Ian Joy from German club St Pauli. The other is the rumored Argentine midfielder Matias Cordoba from Tigre.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bill Witz of the Daily Breeze tells us what the sale of Joe Cannon by LA to San Jose really means.
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Steve Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog talks to forward Alecko Eskandarian about the possibility of being sold by Salt Lake to Chivas USA.
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Goff also speculates that DC United is nearly finished with a deal to bring in veteran centerback Gonzalo Martinez of Juan Carlos Osorio's old club Millonarios in Colombia. From the Washington Post.
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New York has signed goalkeeper Jon Conway to a new contract.
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And Houston has re-signed right winger Brian Mullan.
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American Soccer Daily is rumoring that former Manchester City midfielder Kiki Musampa may be MLS bound.
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Greg Lalas with his column for Goal.com: The 3-5-2
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Big Soccer poster Alan puts up a picture of the brand new New England Revolution shirt from this year, along with an image from last year for comparison. Other than a slight change in the arrangement of the main colors, the only real difference is that they added a collar.
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Speaking of new shirt looks - Oz City snagged this picture of an unbranded Kansas City Wizards shirt. Slightly new shade of blue for them. And gold trim? That IS new.
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The Washington Business Journal with some surprising news on developments for a potential stadium in the District of Columbia for DC United. It's good news for a change.
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The Houston Business Journal with the latest updates on a Dynamo stadium too.
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Word from Portland is that the Timbers are finally going to replace their nasty old fake turf. No it won't be grass, but at least it will be brand new Field Turf. The players from every team in the league will be happy about that news.
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The USL First Division has announced their TV schedule on Fox Soccer Channel for the 2008 season. You all get to see my Minnesota Thunder 3 times. Yee Haw. I'm sure your crappy team is on there some time too.
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Canadian striker O'Brian White of Connecticut was named the 2007 winner of the Hermann Trophy, aka the top college player.
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Interliga
Semifinals Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jan 12 - LA Home Depot Center
San Luis v Atlas
America v Cruz Azul
-The two winners of these games will get spots in la Copa Libertadores.
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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America tries to make sense of how a coin flip could determine one of the Copa Libertadores participants from Mexico. Via Sports Illustrated.
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Team USA January Camp in Carson CA

Official blog.
-The blog has a Q & A with Chicago forward Chris Rolfe.
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The Philadelphia Daily News has an article on local player Jeremiah White who is in the current USA camp.
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USA U23 January camp in Bradenton FL

Their official team blog.
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Soccernet has a very good video interview with American midfielder Freddy Adu of Benfica. He talks plenty about MLS etc. It might take a while to load this clip. But I think it's worth it.
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Greg Seltzer at American Soccer Daily talks to American forward Johann Smith who is back to full health and ready to try and earn a spot on the first team at Bolton.
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This is the kind of crap that makes CONCACAF still a 2nd rate world football federation - some stadiums are not up to standard for the first round of World Cup Qualifying, so those series will become one leg instead of two. Are you kidding me? You make them find stadiums to play the matches, in other countries if you have to, or you throw them out. And don't tell me that this situation hasn't been known about for ages. From the AP via Sports Illustrated.
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Big Euro Matches This Weekend:
-Sat Jan 12
Chelsea v Tottenham - one of the London derby's and it has more meaning than ever these days as Chelsea tries to stay with the leaders, and Spurs try to regain some real footing.
Feyenoord v PSV - the two top dogs battle it out in Holland. #2 v #1.
Caen v Nancy Lorraine - the two big surprise teams this season, and they sit at #4 & #2
-Sun Jan 13
Ajax v AZ Alkmaar - the third place team in the Eredivisie tries to keep pace, while the surprise team of the past 2 seasons tries to get it going again.
Olympiakos v Panathinaikos - the biggy of the weekend, cuz not only are the bitter rivals, but they sit at #1 & #2 in the table, with only 1 point between them. This is one I wish I could see in person!
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Honduran midfielder Wilson Palacios has followed his old boss Steve Bruce from Birmingham to Wigan.
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The Guardian gives us a look at 6 of greatest football grounds in Britain. Thanks to Johnsoon for this one.
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The Guardian also looks at some of the asinine money that is wasted in the transfer market.
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So who will be guarding the net for Deportivo La Coruna this weekend? The top two keepers got into a brawl at training yesterday and both have been suspended by the club. They rest of the team takes on Villareal.
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Chelsea have bought French striker Nicolas Anelka from Bolton.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the Newcastle coaching situation.
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Will the human-bobble-head Harry Redknapp bail on Portsmouth to take over Newcastle? Probably.
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Reuters has a story on Brazilian forward Adriano. His new coach at Sao Paulo says he is raring to go! Really? I kinda doubt it, but I hope so.
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I have seen a few mentions on message boards about a new mega-deal between Milan & Adidas (and when I say mega I mean MEGA), but I cannot seem to dig up any official news. Stay tuned.