Actually Quite Grabby News

Not the most news today, because I am traveling. Sorry. Hopefully a lot more great stuff tomorrow.


Michael Bradley scored 2 more goals for his club Heerenveen and led them up to 3rd place in Holland! He now has 15 goals in all competitions this season! Amazing!
-US Soccer posted an audio interview with Bradley just before his latest heroics. Download or listen.
-You can add Blackburn, Sunderland, Newcastle & Everton in England to Hamburg in Germany of teams now chasing after Bradley. Every indication though is that he will not be transferred until next summer.


MLS News

The Offside Rules with a great, nearly non-soccer Q & A with Chivas USA forward Alecko Eskandarian.
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The Bermuda Sun has a Q & A with New England midfielder Khano Smith, their native son.
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Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com catches us up on any stray MLS news and answers viewer mail.
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Ives Galarcep writing for Soccernet looks at which players the MLS teams are dreaming of signing during this transfer window.
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Jeff Rusnack at the South Florida Sun Sentinel looks at the players who have left and arrived in MLS so far this off season.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on the relatively cheap tickets to be had for Dynamo games again this season. Houston sports fans of all teams are well known for taking advantage of great deals.
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Tom Dunmore at the Chicago Sports Weekly with an article on MLS teams selling the front of their shirts to sponsors.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer says financial help to build a stadium for a potential MLS in Philly is still up in the air.
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Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald with the latest news on Florida International University's plan to build a new stadium and lure an MLS team to make their home in it.
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MLS Rumor City

Will Aston Villa make a last minute bid to try and steal Brad Guzan from Celtic? This can only be seen as great news for The Worm, cuz he price just went up.
-And now Soccer By Ives reports that Villa has doubled Celtics bid!
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After a third big offer was turned down, Preston in England have said that they are done chasing after New England forward Taylor Twellman. Their last bid was $3million.
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Norwich forward Darren Huckerby is no longer connected to the LA Galaxy. Now it's both Toronto & DC chasing him.
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PSG attacking midfielder Marcelo Gallardo is in Washington DC and at the opening of DC United preseason camp today. I guess that means we can expect a deal to be announced very soon.
-Steven Goff of the Washington Post with the latest details.
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Goff reports that Colorado is seriously trying to acquire Christian Gomez from DC. I really hope this happens, for the sake of MLS fans everywhere.
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Team USA

Training in Carson CA for a Feb 6 match in Houston v Mexico.
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Official team blog.
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Kyle Beckerman has injured his ankle and left the training camp to go back to his club in Utah.
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The squad got brand new gear from Nike. Its a whole new look. You can see it in the following pictures and videos.
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US Soccer gives us new photos and video from the January Training camp.
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USA U23

Aka the USA Olympic Team. Training in Bradenton FL for Olympic qualifying in March.
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Official Olympic team blog.
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Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet gives us an update as the team continues to prepare for Olympic qualifying.
-One really good piece of info in this article is that it looks like Michael Orozco who plays for San Luis in Mexico is going to suit up for the Americans. He is from Orange County CA.
-What worries me though, is that they don't appear to have any pre-qualifying matches on the schedule yet. Will there be any, or are they going in cold.
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The Tampa Tribune with a story on the culture of the players on the U23 team as they prepara for qualifying. They play their group stage matches in Tampa.
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USA U20

Playing in Copa Chivas in Guadalajara Mexico
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Matches & Scores:
-Sat Jan 26
USA 2-2 Club America
-Sun Jan 27
USA 1-1 UAG Tecos
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Goalkeeper Abdul Hamid suffered a separated shoulder in Sunday's match and will be replaced by Zac MacMath.
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Forward Ellis McLoughlin was replaced on the roster by Hasani Sinclair. No reason was given for the switch.
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Sheanon Williams was Red Carded for two Yellow Cards early in the second half of the Tecos match. They were earned only minutes apart.
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CONCACAF

Details on the CONCACAF Champions League have finally been announced. It will begin in August of this year.
-One big question was answered in that this spring will be the last time we see the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
-24 teams will be part of this tournament.
-I don't know when they will announce who the specific teams are that will participate.
-Mexico and the USA will each get 4 spots. The Caribbean Islands get 3. 2 each from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama. And 1 each from Canada, Belize and Nicaragua.
-So how will Canada determine their entrant? Will Toronto of MLS have to face off against Vancouver & Montreal of the USL First Division to decide the team?
-And how the hell does Belize get a team on their own? I didn't even know they had a league. Wouldn't the Jamaican League have little more clout that Belize?
-Here's the press release.
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Copa Libertadores

The final qualifying round begins this week.
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jan 29
Arsenal v Mineros
-Wed Jan 30
Cruzeiro v Cerro Porteno
Atlas v La Paz
-Thu Jan 31
Olmedo v Lanus
Ciencciano v Montevideo Wanderers
-Thu Feb 7
Chico v Audax Italiano

2nd leg Matches & Scores
-Tue Feb 5
Mineros v Arsenal
Lanus v Olmedo
-Wed Feb 6
La Paz v Atlas
Cerro Porteno v Cruzeiro
-Thu Feb 7
Montevideo Wanderers v Cienciano
-Tue Feb 12
Audax Italiano v Chico
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Big Euro Matches This Weekend
-Sun Jan 27
Sporting 2-0 Porto - a big big upset in the biggest Portuguese rivalry.
Real Madrid 3-2 Villarreal - #1 v #3 - Villa are shown to be pretenders, and Real extend their lead to 9 points.
Feyenoord 1-1 Groningen - now winner as #3 & #4 battle in Holland, are now tied at 40 points, 6 behind the leader PSV, and dropped into #4 & #5 spots by the end of the weekend.
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English FA Cup

4th round Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jan 25
Southend 0-1 Barnsley
-Sat Jan 26
Mansfield 0-2 Middlesbrough
Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle
Barnet 0-1 Bristol Rovers
Coventry 2-1 Millwall
Derby 1-4 Preston
Liverpool 5-2 Havant & Waterlooville
Oldham 0-1 Huddersfield
Peterborough 0-3 West Bromich
Portsmouth 2-1 Plymouth
Southampton 2-0 Bury
Watford 1-4 Wolverhampton
Wigan 1-2 Chelsea
-Sun Jan 27
Hereford 1-2 Cardiff
Manchester United 3-1 Tottenham
Sheffield United 2-1 Manchester City
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There were only 4 Americans left in the running for the FA Cup before the weekend began, and when the dust settled they were ALL eliminated. Damn.
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See the match ups for the 5th Round of the FA Cup here.
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Americans In Europe

How'd they do in their matches this weekend?
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on in the 76th minute of a road win 1-3 over Guimaraes.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - team off this weekend. Play a league match on Tuesday at Bolton.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - went the full 90 scoring 2 more goals and leading his team to a 0-3 road win over De Graafschap, and into 3rd place in the Eredivisie!
-Bobby Convey - Reading - team off this weekend. Play a league match on Wednesday at Chelsea.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - team off this weekend. Play a league match on Tuesday at Bolton.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played all 90 minutes in a 1-4 home FA Cup loss to Wolverhampton.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - did not dress for his teams 1-4 loss to Preston. Play at Man City on Wednesday.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - played all 90 and drew 1-1 at Aston Villa in the only league game played over the weekend.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - team off this weekend. Play a league match on Wednesday at Chelsea.
-Tim Howard - Everton - team off this weekend, play Tottenham at home on Wednesday in the league.
-Eddie Johnson - Fulham - not known if he will be ready to play for his new team with the go to Bolton on Tuesday.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - started but lasted only 24 minutes in a miserable 1-4 home FA Cup loss to Preston. He injured his knee, but the extent of the damage is not known. Play at Man City on Wednesday.
-Clint Mathis - Ergotolis - still not suiting up for his new team, but they got another point in a 1-1 home draw v Crete. Unfortunately they still sit dead last.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard Liege - played all 90 minutes of a 0-1 road win over Brussels.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - team off this weekend. Host Liverpool in a league match on Wednesday.
-Danny Szetela - Racing Santander - sat on the bench again for his teams 2-2 home draw with Zaragoza.
-Zak Whitbread - Millwall - still injured and did not dress for his teams 2-1 FA Cup loss at Coventry.
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European News

An American company called General Sports and Entertainment has bought English club Derby County. GS & E are based in Suburban Detroit. Here is their website.
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Oh no! Jeffrey Marcus of the New York Times Goal blog says giant blowhard Hank Steinbrenner of the New York Yankees could be tempted to buy a big European team, possibly Tottenham!
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Tottenham has bought defender Jonathan Woodgate from Middlesbrough.
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Sid Lowe of the Guardian with an article on a little known player who has the skill to revive the fortunes of Deportivo La Coruna in Spain.
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The Guardian also has a story on Inter Milan who are pissed off at the way they are treated in the Italian press, so they have gone silent.
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As much as I hate to admit it, that kid Pato at Milan is doing some serious damage to opponents. Good for him.
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The Times Of London looks at the continued troubles with corruption in Polish football.
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African Nations Cup

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jan 25
Cote D’Ivoire 4-1 Benin
Nigeria 0-0 Mali
-Sat Jan 26
Cameroon 5-1 Zambia
Egypt 3-0 Sudan
-Sun Jan 27
Senegal 1-3 Angola
Tunisia 3-1 South Africa
-Mon Jan 28
Ghana 2-0 Morocco - goals by Michael Essien & Sulley Muntari.
Guinea 1-1 Namibia Guin goal by Souleymane Youla. Nam goal by Brian Brendell.
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Ivory Coast were the first team to advance to the knock out rounds. Today they are joined by Ghana and Guinea.
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Even though they have not been eliminated from the tournament, and still have one game left to play in the group stage, the coach of Senegal, Henryk Kasperczak, has resigned.
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Brian Oliver of the Guardian gives us 3 new articles from the ACN:
-A look at the life of Ghana forward Junior Agogo. He is a troubled soul in many ways.
-Ghana is using this tournament to try and help the world know about this countries history and future.
-He gets away from the tournament and gives us some insight into regular life in Ghana.
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Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian with an article on a very talented Nigerian who is NOT at the ACN this time around.
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Greg Lalas on the New York Times Goal blog shows us some of the "Cult of Michael Essien".
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Jack Bell also at the Goal blog writes about the Angolan flag.
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Sid Lowe for World Soccer has a Q & A with Mali captain Mahamadou Diarra. Via Sports Illustrated.
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Greg Lalas also writing for Sports Illustrated says look out for Mali.

It's Automatic Sleepy Time News

From the Fulham FC website, as part of a Q & A with American Brian McBride: "Q: Which player likes to try the most tricks in training? Do they work? A: Clint (Dempsey). I’d say they’re 75% effective!"

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Steven Goff of the Washington Post: "He's [Christian Gomez] definitely not coming back to D.C. United."


MLS News

Greg Seltzer of American Soccer Daily talks to new Salt Lake defender Ian Joy, formerly of St Pauli (one of du Nord's favorite clubs).
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Columbus has officially sold defender Marcos Gonzalez to Chilean powerhouse Universidad Catolica.
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And Shawn Mitchell on his Covering The Crew blog has a quote from Columbus coach Sigi Schmid who is meeting this team owners to "get the OK to really push ahead for a DP.”
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A players is going the other direction from Chile to MLS as well. American defender Chase Hilgenbrinck has officially signed with Colorado. He was playing for Nublense.
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John Haydon of the Washington Times on the official re-signing of Jaime Moreno at DC United.
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LA Daily News with a short article and quotes on the return of Carlos Pescado Ruiz to the LA Galaxy.
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Kyle McCarthy at MLSnet with an article on a private tryout session New England held with 365 prospects the other night.
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Fox Soccer Channel's column Side Kicks takes on the polarizing topic of fans love/hate concerning Landon Donovan. And several other subjects.
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It looks as though the LA Galaxy did not learn their lesson last season and have planned a trip to Asia this spring for matches during preseason. Over scheduling killed them last year, and this year looks to be the same. So far we have Mar 5 in Shanghai v East Asia a 2nd division Chinese team (WTF?), and Seoul FC on Mar 1 in South Korea. There is talk of a second game in China as well.
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Here is a list of all the players selected by MLS teams in yesterdays Supplemental draft (a second chance to bring in players that were not taken in last weeks Superdraft).
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MLS team preseason start dates:
-Jan 26
New York
Salt Lake
-Jan 28
Columbus
Colorado
DC
Kansas City
-Jan 30
New England
-Feb 1
Toronto
Houston
-Feb 4
Chivas USA
Dallas
Los Angeles
San Jose
-Feb 6
Chicago
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I got an awful lot of emails from readers banging me over the head for dissing on Youri Djorkaeff's first season in New York. So I want to acknowledge all those fans, and say, Ok maybe there was ONE French guy that had a decent season in MLS. But that's as far as I am willing to go. Unless their is cash involved.
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The Telegraph newspaper of Southwestern Illinois with an article on potential St Louis MLS owner Jeff Cooper and the effort he is putting in to try and secure a team.
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The Kansas City Wizards have announced their new not so awe inspiring team slogan: "The World’s Game ... Kansas City’s Team". But itt sure beats the hell out of that thing they did with the Zard Meister several years back though. That was downright creepy.
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MLS Rumor City

Allen Hopkins at Soccernet with all the latest dirt. Schelotto, Superdraft & more.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post has loads of updates on DCU potential signings, Jose Carvallo, Marcelo Gallardo & Gonzalo Peralta, on his Soccer Insider blog.
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It's looking like Houston lost another forward as the word from Austria says Nate Jaqua has signed with Altach (where he has been on trial).
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Dallas has offered Denilson a new contract for this season at a reduced rate. Will he take it? Is he worth it?
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George Tanner of the FC Rocky blog says Colorado has cut loose 2 veteran players - Jose Pepe Cancela & Tony Sanneh.
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USL - First Division

The Oregonian with a story on Portland Timbers mascot Timber Jim who is retiring from his role. He was awesome. After Portland goals he would saw off a chunk of log. It does not get better than that. Thank you Jim, you are my hero. (thanks to Brian for this one)
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The Austin Statesman on the newly announced First Division team, Austin Aztex. They will begin play in the 2009 season.
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USA

Official Team USA blog.
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From the USA blog - a Q & A with Pat Noonan on signing with Aalesund in Norway, and leaving New England.
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Goalkeeper Brad Guzan is expected to be back from a trip to visit Celtic in Scotland for this camp.
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USA Olympic Team

The team will start another week long training session in Bradenton FL on Saturday.
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2 more players, Adam Cristman of New England & Nathan Sturgis of Salt Lake, were added to restart of training camp. 4 other players left the USA senior camp to join this one as well: Jozy Altidore, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan & Marvell Wynne. Some of these last 4 may rejoin the senior team prior to the Feb 6 game v Mexico.
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U23 official blog.
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USA U20's

Here is the team roster for the Copa Chivas tournament. Alex Nimo, Ellis McLoughlin & Jorge Flores are probably the best known players on this team.
-And one last minute change to the roster.
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Copa Chivas in Guadalajara Mexico
Matches & Scores:
Sat Jan 26 v Club America
Sun Jan 27 v UAG Tecos
Mon Jan 28 v Locomotiv Moscow
Tue Jan 29 v Estudiantes
Wed Jan 30 v Santos
Jan 31 - Feb 2 - Quarters, Semis & Final
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US Soccer News

The Los Angeles Times with a 2nd article on the growing conflict between club soccer and high school teams with teenage kids. Great stuff on where the game is headed in America.
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CONCACAF

Mark yer calendar: Mexico's U23 aka Olympic team v Paraguay on Feb 27 in Tijuana.
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Americans In Europe

Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer talks to USA & Heerenveen midfielder Michael Bradley about his life in Holland, his incredible run of 13 goals so far this season, and the future.
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The Fulham website has 3 articles with 2 of the teams 17 American players:
-Carlos Bocanegra talks about their next opponent Bolton.
-A fairly lighthearted Q & A with Brian McBride.
-Manager Roy Hodgson comments on McBride's return from injury.
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American Soccer Daily is reporting that 2 young Americans are on a trial run at Danish team Randers. Lee Nguyen, who would be a loan move from PSV, and Will John who would be a transfer move from Kansas City are the players.
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European Cup Competitions

Copa Italia - Quarterfinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jan 24
Lazio 1-1 Fiorentina
-2nd leg matches next week.
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Spanish Copa del Rey - Quarterfinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jan 24
Racing Santander 2-0 Athletic Bilbao
Villareal 0-0 Barcelona
-2nd leg matches next week.
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Big Euro Matches This Weekend
-Sun Jan 27
Sporting v Porto - the biggest Portuguese rivalry.
Real Madrid v Villarreal - #1 v #3 - are Villa contenders or pretenders like Atletico.
Feyenoord v Groningen - #3&4 in Holland tied at 39 points, 4 behind the leader PSV.
-Wed Jan 30
Ajax v PSV
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European News

England has confirmed a friendly match on Nov 19 in Berlin v Germany.
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Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillet finished a refinancing deal on the team, meaning it doesn't look like they are going anywhere any time soon. The Liverpeople are freaking out.
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The Reuters Soccer Blog ponders why the world isn't going nuts for Sweden & Inter star Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
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Quiz Question: Who currently leads the Turkish Super League? Is it Besiktas, Fenerbahce or Galatasaray? Do you know? It's a trick question, cuz the answer is Sivasspor. Who? Reuters tells us who they are.
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The Times with an article on new Scotland boss George Burley.
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Andres Iniesta has signed a 4 year contract extension with Barcelona.
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African Cup of Nations

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Sun Jan 20
Ghana 2-1 Guinea
-Mon Jan 21
Namibia 1-5 Morocco
Nigeria 0-1 Cote D’Ivoire
Mali 1-0 Benin
-Tue Jan 22
Cameroon 2-4 Egypt
Zambia 3-0 Sudan
-Wed Jan 23
Tunisia 2-2 Senegal
South Africa 1-1 Angola
-Thu Jan 24
Guinea 3-2 Morocco
Ghana 1-0 Namibia
-Fri Jan 25
Cote D’Ivoire 4-1 Benin - Cote goals by Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure, Abdelkader Keita & Aruna Dindane. Ben goal by Razak Omotoyossi.
Nigeria v Mali
-Sat Jan 26
Cameroon v Zambia
Egypt v Sudan
-Sun Jan 27
Senegal v Angola
Tunisia v South Africa
-Mon Jan 28
Ghana v Morocco
Guinea v Namibia
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You can watch all the games for a fee or see video highlights for free at Telesud.
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Brian Oliver writing for the Guardian from Ghana with an article on Nigeria and coach Bertie Vogts.
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allAfrica has a report on Thursdays 2 matches.
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This Day says Kanu is trying to rally his Nigerian team after losing in match 1.
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Kanu told the Daily Champion in Nigeria that the Super Eagles intend to win the cup. He was wearing a Chicago White Sox cap during the interview.
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A Malian man walked all the to Takoradi Ghana to see his national team play, in hopes of inspiring them. He arrived during their first match v Benin. It took him 27 days to walk it. I wish there was more on this story, but that's all I have found so far.
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Other African News

Two stories from the Inquirer of Liberia on the countries preparations in qualifying for WC 2010.
-"Time Is Running Out"
-Lone Star 2010 Ambition Remains Uncertain

Going Real Fast, But With Patience News

Could Michael Bradley become the American Michael Ballack? Bradley scored again last night in Heerenveen's 5-1 win over Venlo. what an amazing season he is having - 13 goals so far in all competitions.


MLS News

Can you believe that MLS pre-season kicks off this weekend?!?! MLS with details on what we can expect this pre-season and regular season.
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Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News and Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe on the departure on Rev's forward Pat Noonan to Aalesund in Norway.
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New England announced that they have re-signed defender/midfielder and former team captain Joe "lil Frankenstein" Franchino.
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Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer has part 1 of a great Q & A with Robert Abramowitz - Editor In Chief of Futbol Mundial magazine (among a million other things he does).
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Clemente Lisi of the US Soccer Players Assoc has a Q & A with New York Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio.
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Both John Haydon of the Washington Times and Steven Goff of the Washington Post today's DC United South American signing - Gonzalo Martinez, defender from Colombia.
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Andrea Canales at Soccer365 with an article on Houston defender Eddie Robinson, who at 29 years old made his debut with Team USA last weekend. He played 45 minutes, and scored a goal!
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FC Dallas Updates with Part 2 of a fan Q & A with Dallas general manager Michael Hitchcock and coach Steve Morrow.
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Michael Black of the Deseret Morning News talks to new Salt Lake defender Ian Joy.
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Bob Luder of the Kansas City Star on the departure of Wizards forward Eddie Johnson to Fulham in England.
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Johnson's home town paper the Daytona Beach News Journal with the story too. With quotes from his mom.
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Tobias Xavier Lopez with an article on finding, nurturing and most importantly keeping young talent in MLS.
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The "Supplemental Draft" will be held this afternoon via conference call. This is a chance for teams to pick up any players that were not chosen last week in the Superdraft.
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Big Apple Soccer reports that the Red Bulls will hold a pre-preseason training camp next week for all draft picks and free agents.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle feels that the Dynamo need to look far and wide to replace departed forward Joseph Ngwenya.
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The awesome Colorado supporters group Class VI put together a drive to send soccer balls to kids in Iraq. One of their members is stationed there and set it up on that end. Well done!
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Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star says TFC has brought in a bunch of French players to try out for their academy & senior teams.
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Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun says TFC coach Mo Johnston is going to do everything he can to convince Joseph Lapira to sign with Toronto instead of a European team.
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The Seattle Times is reporting that MLS Seattle has hired long time MLS player Chris Henderson as their Technical Director.
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Univision's reality show/contest last year uncovered Jorge Flores for Chivas USA. He won the contest, got a contract, made the squad, and even played! He also got a call up to the USA U20 team! What an amazing story. This year Univision is gonna do it again, and this time 2 teams will search for a star - Chivas USA & Dallas. The show starts this weekend and is part of the Republica Deportiva program.
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MLS Rumor City

American Soccer Daily is reporting that Houston forward Nate Jaqua has been offered a deal by Altach in Austria. The other night on Glenn Davis's Houston based radio show he said that Jaqua also has had a try out with the same Austrian club that just signed his Houston teammate Joseph Ngwenya - Karnten.
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DC United is very very close to finalizing a deal for Millonarios defender Gonzalo Martinez.
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Guatemala & Municipal midfielder Freddy Thompson is being looked at by a couple of MLS teams.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on the Fire's chase for French striker Fabrice Pancrate from Sochaux.
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Jeff Cooper the potential owner of a new MLS team in St Louis has brought a team into the newly announced Women's Professional Soccer league, and they will be called St Louis United. Does this mean the same name could be extended to his MLS team if they happen? More likely it means he is using this name for his women's team and will find a new name for his men's team, so as not to conflict with DC United. But I will state once again that calling your team United is lame if you have united anything.
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USL - First Division

Vancouver has signed keeper Jay Nolly and forward Nicolas Addlery, both formerly of DC United.
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USA

The team is back in Carson CA for training leading up to the Mexico game on Feb 6. Roster from US Soccer. Several more players from European teams will be added to this team and then a game day roster will be chosen from all of them.
-4 guys from the previous roster headed to Florida this week to train with the Olympic team: Jozy Altidore, Maurice Edu, Sacha Kljestan & Marvell Wynne. Any or all could be called back for the Mexico game.
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USA Olympic Team

They are currently in an extended training camp in Bradenton Florida.
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Jozy Altidore checks in from Florida via the New York Times Goal blog.
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Mexico's Olympic team will play 2 warm up games before the qualifying tournament:
-Sun Mar 2 v Australia in Oakland at McAfee Coliseum
-Thu Mar 6 v Finland in Frisco TX at Pizza Hut Park
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Americans In Europe

Michael Bradley is just tearing it up at Heerenven in the Dutch Eredivisie. He scored last night for the 3rd match in a row. The team sit in 4th place, only 6 points from the top, but they have 2 games in hand over Feyenoord who sit one point behind them. What a run!
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Soccer America with a story on Bradley today.
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US Soccer has a video interview with Eddie Johnson about his transfer to Fulham.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports with his look at the Eddie Johnson transfer. He offers up some helpful pointers.
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Some fine artwork here showing us the all new Team America forming up at Fulham. (thanks to Brian at Oz City for this gem.)
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Ravi Ubha at Soccernet with a story on the still shining American goalkeeper Brad Friedel of Blackburn.
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Tim Howard & Everton were knocked out of the English League/Carling Cup last night in a 1-0 home loss to Chelsea, and 3-1 on aggregate. They had already been eliminated from the FA Cup so now they focus on the league race, and the UEFA Cup which resumes in a couple of weeks.
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Scotland's Press & Journal with an article on Notre Dame striker Joseph Lapira who looks to be skipping MLS to go on trial with Aberdeen.
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The Twin Cities (my cities) Metro Player Of The Year is Keido Pour from St Bernards. And this week he is in Germany on a trial with Borussia Dortmund. His plan is to finish school here, and return to a European team this summer.
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European Cup Competitions

English League/Carling Cup - Semifinals
2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue Jan 22
Tottenham 5-1 Arsenal - Tottenham advance to final 6-2 on aggregate.
-Wed Jan 23
Everton 0-1 Chelsea - Chelsea adv 3-1 on agg.
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So the Carling Cup final will be Tottenham v Chelsea on Sun Feb 24 at Wembley Stadium.
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Copa Italia - Quarterfinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 23
Udinese 3-2 Catania
Sampdoria 1-1 Roma
Inter 2-2 Juventus
-Thu Jan 24
Lazio v Fiorentina
-2nd leg matches next week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Spanish Copa del Rey - Quarterfinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 23
Getafe 1-0 Mallorca
Valencia 1-0 Atletico Madrid
-Thu Jan 24
Racing Santander v Athletic Bilbao
Villareal v Barcelona
-2nd leg matches next week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Scotland has officially named George Burley as their new national team manager.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian gets us all caught up to date with the Turkish league.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters Soccer Blog with an article on Valencia coach Ronald Koeman who is trying to save his job-team-season. Why does there seem to be a high level of paranoia involved?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated with the latest World Soccer Club Power Rankings. No change at the top.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times tells us the secret to success of Tottenham coach Juane Ramos.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

African Cup of Nations
Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Sun Jan 20
Ghana 2-1 Guinea
-Mon Jan 21
Namibia 1-5 Morocco
Nigeria 0-1 Cote D’Ivoire
Mali 1-0 Benin
-Tue Jan 22
Cameroon 2-4 Egypt
Zambia 3-0 Sudan
-Wed Jan 23
Tunisia 2-2 Senegal
South Africa 1-1 Angola
-Thu Jan 24
Guinea 3-2 Morocco - Guin goals by Pascal Feindouno(2) & Ismael Bangoura. Mor goals by Hicham Aboucherouane & Abdeslam Ouaddou.
Ghana 1-0 Namibia - - goal by Junior Agogo.
-Fri Jan 25
Cote D’Ivoire v Benin
Nigeria v Mali
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Moments after scoring his 2nd goal for Guinea today Pascal Feindouno kicked a player from Morocco and was Red Carded!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Lalas at Goal.com does a Q & A with Ghana forward Junior Agogo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lalas also writing for Sports Illustrated with a story on Ghana coach Claude LeRoy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After seeing all the teams once, Sulaiman Folarin is calling Cote d'Ivoire the favorites to win it all.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times The Game blog says that new Manchester United signing Manucho lived up to the hype when he scored a goal for Angola yesterday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The AP is reporting that a man approached the Benin coach and asked him to help rig the outcome of the game v Mali. Via Sports Illustrated.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Business Day in South Africa on the countries last minute gasp for 1 point yesterday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Vanguard with an article on the fans of Nigeria who are flipping out on coach Berti Vogts. Even their own Federation is slamming him.

Creepin Up On Em News

Eddie Johnson has signed his deal at Fulham and got his work permit!! He is all set to go. Official word from Fulham here. Let's all welcome the Grown Ass Man to Fulhamerica!

~and~

What the hell is Beckman doing in Sierra Leone? From the looks of the first picture he appears to be starting a new Fight Club chapter. Oh, he's there for UNICEF, ok, cool. (thanks to Alex for this one)

~and~

Former San Jose & Houston and now San Jose again defender Ryan Cochrane on his new and old team: "They're the Houston Dynamo now. As soon as everyone can come to grips with that the better."

~and~

There is something very underhanded stated in the Q & A Kyle McCarthy does with Chris Albright (see below). LA went to Albright and said (these are my words paraphrasing the situation for dramatic effect, but the facts are correct), "Here is a new contract. It's not as much as we would like to give you, but we are on a very very tight budget here. Can you help us out." And to stay on the team he said "Yes". Then they turned right around and sold him to New England. And obviously it was easier to sell him at a lower salary. I have to call bullshit on that one. Maybe Mr Lalas can defend himself.


MLS News

Steven Goff of the Washington Post finally has some real news to report - DC United has signed Argentinos Juniors forward Franco Niell on a 1 year loan. John Haydon of the Washington Times on the signing too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com has a Q & A with brand new Revolution defender Chris Albright, just after the sale went down.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Salt Lake Tribune says Real Salt Lake has officially signed defender Ian Joy from St Pauli. RSL also finally officially cut Jaime Watson loose from their roster.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with an article on former Fire player Chris Armas who has been hired as an assistant coach.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The San Jose Mercury News with info on the first preseason games for the all new Earthquakes of San Jose. Of course the first will be against Houston (the old Earthquakes).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer talks to NYRB defender Jeff Parke who has yet ANOTHER new head coach (#5 in New York alone). He goes through coaches like I go through Frisbee dogs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Metrofanatic has a Q & A with the Red Bulls other draft pick Luke Sassano. (we linked to others yesterday)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC Dallas Updates gives us a Q & A with the teams coach Steve Morrow and general manager Michael Hitchcock. (all questions supplied by fans)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Bradley at MLSnet with the First XI - the off season player shuffle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dean McNulty of the Toronto Sun with more on the idea of the elite soccer academy in Toronto. (see yesterday for another story)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times Goal blog wonders if the MLS Superdraft is all that super.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Haiti has called New York Red Bulls forward Jerrod Laventure into their national team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Washington Post with the latest on a possible stadium for DC United.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumor City

Pat Noonan is bolting MLS to go play in Norway at Aalesund. New England had cut him loose after last season, but I don't think they really thought he would leave. I bet the Rev's figured they could re-sign him on a cheaper deal. Aalesund is the same team that has former New England goalkeeper Aidn Brown as their shot stopper.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC United will soon announce that they have signed defender Gonzalo Martinez from Millonarios.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"They" say that the Chicago brass are in France to see Sochaux's right midfielder Fabrice Pancrate. If they sign him, let's hope he pans out better than most (all?) the other French players that have tried MLS. (Would you consider Youri Djorkaeff a success? I would not.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer is reporting that all MLS teams will be able to use charter flights this season, as opposed to commercial flights.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Looks like the LA Galaxy are about to add to their huge pile of frequent flier miles and play a preseason smash-and-grab-the-cash game in South Korea. March 1 maybe?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL - First Division

Our pal Brian Quarstad at Blue Sky Soccer has an audio Q & A with the Minnesota Thunder's new marketing director Peter Johns. Download or listen here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL's First Division has announced that a new team from Austin Texas will join the league next season. They will be known as the Austin Aztex. And will be owned by one of the owners and directors of current English Championship division team Stoke City. Here is the official press release with logo and picture of their shirt, which is red & white striped.
-Can anyone tell me what Austin Texas has to do with the Aztecs?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA

The senior team will reconvene in Los Angeles on Thursday for more training, and then at some point will be joined by teammates from Europe before the Mexico match on Feb 6.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated looks ahead at 2008 for coach Bob Bradley.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pat Walsh at Goal.com thinks that Bob Bradley has found the perfect spot for Landon Donovan on the national team - right midfield. I politely disagree.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 - Copa Chivas in Guadalajara Mexico
Matches & Scores:
Jan 26 v Club America
Jan 27 v UAG Tecos
Jan 28 v Locomotiv Moscow
Jan 29 v Estudiantes
Jan 30 v Santos
Jan 31 - Feb 2 - Quarters, Semis & Final
-The team is coached by Thomas Rongen. Here is the roster:
G:
Abdul Hamid
Josh Lambo
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde
Franklin Blaise
Nicholas Millington
Brek Shea
Sheanon Williams
Matthew Uy
M:
Bryan Arguez
Amobi Okugo
Pablo Punyed
F:
Hugh Dixon
Jorge Flores
Felix Garcia
Cristian Gonzales
Ellis McLoughlin
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Hamburg is said to be the most interested in buying American midfielder Michael Bradley from his current club Heerenveen. When that might happen, who knows. But probably not right now.
-Bradley & Heerenvenn have a Eredivisie league match tonight at home v Venlo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA & Reading goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann has a column in the Daily Mail. Yes, he is funny. Who knew he had a column? (Thanks to BQ for this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kasey Keller is back from injury and played the full 90 in the Fulham reserve match today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Daily Mail with words on the potential move of USA & Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan to Celtic. Comes complete with lots of quotes from none other than John Spencer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF

Did you know that the team from St Kitts & Nevis is know are the Sugar Boyz?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

El Salvador went to Belize and won 0-1 in a CONCACAF Friendly. Both teams begin World Cup qualifying in 2 weeks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English FA Cup - 3rd Round Replays. Americans involved:
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jan 22
Bristol Rovers 0-0 Fulham - Rovers win it 5-3 on Penalties.
Clint Dempsey - Fulham - played the full 90 plus the extra 30, did not take a PK
Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - played the full 90 plus the extra 30, did not take a PK
Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Derby County - Derby win 4-2 on Penalties.
Frank Simek - Sheffield Wed - out with ankle injury
Benny Feilhaber - Derby - did not dress, on the transfer block
Eddie Lewis - Derby - came on as a 42nd minute sub, and hit the 2nd of the 4 PK's
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English League/Carling Cup - Semifinals
2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue Jan 22
Tottenham 5-1 Arsenal - Tottenham advance to final 6-2 on aggregate.
-Wed Jan 23
Everton v Chelsea (1-2)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with an article on the Carling Cup. The hope is that someone other than Man U, Liverpeople, Arse & Chelski win it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Italia - Quarterfinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 23
Udinese v Catania
Sampdoria v Roma
Inter v Juventus
-Thu Jan 24
Lazio v Fiorentina
-2nd leg matches next week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Spanish Copa del Rey - Quarterfinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 23
Getafe v Mallorca
Valencia v Atletico Madrid
-Thu Jan 24
Racing Santander v Athletic Bilbao
Villareal v Barcelona
-2nd leg matches next week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ravi Ubha of the Seattle Press catches us up on the some of the lesser known world soccer news. Always good.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones of the LA Times with his own version of world soccer news roundup. Usually more obvious stuff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Telegraph says that the best scouts in world football are all headed to Sao Paolo for a youth tournament hoping to find the next Kaka.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian with an article on the Iranian government getting involved and ruining that country's shot at some great football.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Looks like George Burley will be the new Scotland manager. He has been the manager at Southampton, and will be replaced their by Glenn Hoddle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fulham defender Moritz Volz with his latest article for the Times. It's all about the cops. As always a fantastic read from Volzy!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Espanyol lost their inspirational leader in forward Raul Tamudo when he broke his arm at training today. He will be out 2 months.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Striker Rolando Bianchi has left Manchester City after just one half season and signed with Lazio.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You think the rumors in MLS are silly - in the past 24 hours Inter has been said to be signing Diego from Werder Bremen, Ronaldinho from Barca & Kun Aguero from Atletico Madrid. And they all play generally the same position!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

African Cup of Nations
Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Sun Jan 20
Ghana 2-1 Guinea
-Mon Jan 21
Namibia 1-5 Morocco
Nigeria 0-1 Cote D’Ivoire
Mali 1-0 Benin
-Tue Jan 22
Cameroon 2-4 Egypt
Zambia 3-0 Sudan
-Wed Jan 23
Tunisia 2-2 Senegal - Tun goals by Issam Jemaa & Majdi Traoui. Sen goals by Bayal Sall & Diomansy Kamara.
South Africa 1-1 Angola - SA goal by Elrio van Heerden. Angola goal by Manucho.
-Thu Jan 24
Guinea v Morocco
Ghana v Namibia
-Fri Jan 25
Cote D’Ivoire v Benin
Nigeria v Mali
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brian Oliver of the Guardian sees the goals pouring in.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

News24 in South Africa reports that things behind the scenes at the ACN are quite chaotic.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

News24 also reports that partying has been so intense that someone died.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

News24 has a positive article too - Chelsea teammates Michael Essien of Ghana and Didier Drogba & Salomon Kalou of Ivory Coast want to play against each other for the championship.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lagos Nigeria newspaper This Day says the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon were humiliated by Egypt.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This Day also reports that Nigerian players had a war of words on the team bus following their loss to Cote d'Ivoire.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ugandan newspaper New Vision has an article on Angola's new star Manucho, who was recently signed by Manchester United. I also think that Angola are one of the darkhorses that could win it all.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Zimbabwe paper The Herald has an article on another surprisingly good looking team - Guinea.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Business Day of Johannesburg says that all South African eyes will be watching and all minds will be thinking ahead to 2010 when South Africa plays Angola today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All Africa has a translation from French of the Cameroon Tribune article calling their teams performance v Egypt a disgrace.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters says Ghana has centerback injury troubles.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Reuters Soccer Blog wonders how Cameroon rebounds from the beating Egypt put on them.

You Say News

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog: "I don't really watch Fan Zone on Fox Soccer Channel. If I wanted to hear a biased announcer, I'd watch the New England Revolution telecasts."


MLS News

J Hutcherson of the US Soccer Players Assoc gives us their MLS "State Of The League" article.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle says the Dynamo has lost forward Joseph Ngwenya to Austrian club Karnten of Klagenfurt. Wow. The money must be great, cuz why else would you make this move? The club is new as of last summer. Before that they were know as ASKO Pasching.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I need to clarify something from yesterday - Chicago acquired the "rights" to forward Andy Herron from Columbus, not the contract of the player. Herron is playing at Puntarenas as several people pointed out to me yesterday. Thanks everyone for the info.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has an article on new Chivas USA midfielder Atiba Harris. They talk about his native country St Kitts as they begin World Cup qualifying.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch on his Covering The Crew blog says former USA youth goalkeeper Steve Sandbo is about to graduate from college, but will not pursue soccer. Instead he will go into banking. Mitchell calls it refreshing. I call it depressing. The guy doesn't feel he can make enough as a pro athlete in his sport of choice. Damn.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger writes about the start of NYRB preseason camp - Saturday! Is Juan Carlos Osorio ready?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at the Herald News writes about the new Osorio Era in New York/Jersey.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Metrofanatic has Q & A's with 2 new Red Bull draft picks - Eric Brunner and David Roth.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chicago defender Osei Telesford has been called into the Trinidad & Tobago squad that is playing Puerto Rico this weekend. Good for him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dean McNulty (Jimmy's cousin) of the Toronto Sun says the new Toronto FC youth academy is being undermined by local club teams.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Deseret Morning News has an update on stadium construction in Salt Lake City. It is starting to look like a stadium!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tom Timmerman of the St Louis Post Dispatch with the latest expansion news from St Louis. The man behind the St Louis bid says he may have found the other investors he needs financially.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumor City

Austrian newspapers say Jozy Altidore has signed a new contract with Red Bull New York, and part of that deal has him joining their mother team in Salzburg in the summer of 09.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog reports that DC United has completed the deal to sign forward Franco Niell from Argentinos Juniors.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Columbus is chasing a "Romanian midfielder".
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA

Dan Loney at the US Soccer Players Assoc reviews the January camp for Team USA and looks ahead to the Feb 6 match v Mexico.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U23 - The Olympic team is at a training camp in Bradenton FL.

U23 official blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kristian Dyer at Soccernet says that if American midfielder Benny Feilhaber has his way, he will stay at Derby County.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Canada is holding a training camp in Florida right now. They have no imminent games of the schedule though. Here is the roster:
G:
Pat Onstad - Houston Dynamo
Greg Sutton - Toronto FC
Josh Wagenaar - unattached
D:
Adrian Cann - Vancouver Whitecaps
Paris Nakajima-Farran - Naestved
Marco Reda - unattached
M:
Dwayne De Rosario - Houston Dynamo
Kevin Harmse - Los Angeles Galaxy
Dejan Jakovic - University of Alabama Birmingham
Issey Nakajima-Farran - Nordsjaelland
Martin Nash - Vancouver Whitecaps
Chris Pozniak - San Jose Earthquakes
Antonio Ribeiro - Impact de Montreal
Tyler Rosenlund - Port Coquitlam
Adrian Serioux - FC Dallas
Chris Williams - unattached
F:
Rob Friend - Monchengladbach
Charles Gbeke - Impact de Montreal
Dave Simpson - Sparta Praha
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

English League/Carling Cup - Semifinals
2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue Jan 22
Tottenham v Arsenal (1-1)
-Wed Jan 23
Everton v Chelsea (1-2)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Italia - Quarterfinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 23
Udinese v Catania
Sampdoria v Roma
Inter v Juventus
-Thu Jan 24
Lazio v Fiorentina
-2nd leg matches next week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Spanish Copa del Rey - Quarterfinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jan 23
Getafe v Mallorca
Valencia v Atletico Madrid
-Thu Jan 24
Racing Santander v Athletic Bilbao
Villareal v Barcelona
-2nd leg matches next week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hungary has rehired Peter Varhidi as their national team coach. He was in charge in 06, was fired, and is now back again. Ah, the Billy Martin of Hungary.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian looks at the tightening race for the Ligue 1 crown. It's no longer Lyon and Lyon alone.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All we hear from England these days is what terrible tyrant owners Hicks-Gillet-Glazer are. But the Guardian says Randy Lerner of Cleveland who owns Aston Villa is a totally different kinda guy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times with an article on Milan's young prodigy Alexandre Pato. No real pressure on him to succeed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with Mexico & Club America goalkeeper Memo Ochoa.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The latest EPL Talk audio podcast has interviews with former England boss Steve McClaren, former Liverpool & Lyon coach Gerard Houllier and long time European manager Jozef Venglos. Excellent stuff indeed.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Real Zaragoza in Spain named Ander Garitano as their new head coach 8 days ago. Today, he quit.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tim Vickery of Sports Illustrated looks back at one of Brazil's greatest legends - Garrincha.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

African Cup of Nations
Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Sun Jan 20
Ghana 2-1 Guinea - Ghan goals by Asamoah Gyan(PK) & Sulley Muntari. Guin goal by Oumar Kalabane.
-Mon Jan 21
Namibia 1-5 Morocco - Nam goal by Brian Brendell. Mor goals by Soufiane Alloudi(3!!), Tarik Sektioui(PK) & Monsef Zerka.
Nigeria 0-1 Cote D’Ivoire - goal by Salomon Kalou.
Mali 1-0 Benin - goal by Frederic Kanoute(PK).
-Tue Jan 22
Cameroon 2-4 Egypt - Cam goals both by Samuel Eto'o. Egy goals by Mohamed Zidan(2) & Hosni Abd Rabou(2).
Zambia 3-0 Sudan - goals by James Chamanga, Jacob Mulengaa & Felix Katongo.
-Wed Jan 23
Tunisia v Senegal
South Africa v Angola
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From the Public Agenda newspaper in Ghana: Football Can Indeed Foster Peace & Development
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times with a feature on Ghana's undoubted leader Michael Essien.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the wide open play at the ACN. The players thrive on it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul Gardner of the New York Sun on the ACN and the problems that the European Soccer Elite have with it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise laments the fact that the ACN can barely be found in the USA. I agree.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters Soccer Blog says the ACN is a little too chaotic this time around. Too much success?

Cruising On A Sunny Afternoon News

This one has floated in under the radar but DC United has signed forward and team captain Jaime Moreno to a new 2 year contract. Moreno took a pay cut.

~and~

USA forward Jozy Altidore on the New York Times Goal blog: "A lot of people have asked me who’s impressed me the most in camp. Landon Donovan. I’m the first to say that I’ve always thought he was a very good player. But after watching him train, do drills … he’s more than just a good player. He’s really something special, and I think he can get better as well. He’s accurate with both feet, he’s really fit, and I’ve been impressed seeing him against guys one-on-one."


Team USA
USA 2-0 Sweden - goals by Eddie Robinson & Landon Donovan(PK)
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the LA Times.
Match report by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Match report from the Associated Press.
Post-match analysis & USA players ratings by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Post-match analysis & USA players ratings from Soccer Times.
Post-match analysis by Jen Chang at Soccernet.
Post-match coach & players quotes from US Soccer.
Game photos from US Soccer.
Match video highlights from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

du Nord 3 Stars Of The Game
3 Brad Guzan - Made 2 big second half saves look really easy, and that is what you want your keeper to do! Perfect!
2 Eddie Robinson - First cap, first goal! What a start for a guy who is 29 years old. He plays defense like a world class mugger, and scrambled for the loose ball in front of the net like a hobo going after loose change! Excellent.
1 Landon Donovan - He was the leader on the field. Worked his ass off. Put the Swedes under pressure. Calmly and confidently sealed the game with the Penalty Kick, and in the process broke the USA goal scoring record with his 35th.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My post-game notes:
-Others who shined: Brad Davis delivered great set piece service, Ricardo Clark worked hard & delivered a trademark powerful shot early, and Jozy Altidore was a definite spark at forward (drawing the foul on LD's PK) after Taylor Twellman gave us little more than 2 decent passes and a weak shot on goal in the first half. Outside backs Drew Moor and Ramiro Corrales both did their best to push into the attack. Second half subs Clarence Goodson (debut), Sacha Kljestan & Michael Parkhurst all held their own too.
-Disappointments were limited to 2: Taylor Twellman did little to nothing outside of the aforementioned 2 nice passes, and Maurice Edu did not show the same grit he had in his first 2 USA appearances. But hey, he's a new guy and that is a high standard I have him held too. On the other hand Twellman has finally fallen off my "give him another chance" list.
-Donovan wore those special new Copper-Orange-Sunburst colored Nike shoes.
-Robinson was the 44th player to score on his USA debut. That is an amazing stat when you think about it. (stolen from US Soccer)
-The game was #500 all time for Team USA, and their Win-Loss-Tie record sits at an astonishing 194-194-112! 500 games - .500 record. What are the odds? 50-50?
-Jeremiah White got his first USA cap, but only saw 9 minutes of action.
-Steve Cronin was a late edition to the training camp after Matt Pickens left for European tryouts, but he ended up being the back up (unused) keeper on the game day roster. Great for him.
-Players from the January camp who did not dress for the Sweden game were: Dan Califf (hamstring strain), Zach Wells, Will Hesmer, Todd Dunivant, Kyle Beckerman, Justin Mapp and Marvell Wynne.
-We had over 30 people gathered at the Sweetwater in St Paul to watch the game. I had a great time. It was cool to see so many of you, especially you Fred!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales on the Sideline Views blog has an audio Q & A with USA & Chicago forward Chris Rolfe. Download or listen here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And Canales writing for Soccernet on Landon Donovan and the new USA all time goal scoring record.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Official Team USA Blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer President Sunil Gulati told Fox Soccer Channel that the USA will probably play 2 games in the late May international window. I think the Spain game will be the 2nd of those, so look for another in America on Memorial Day weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You can expect Team USA to regather at some point next week to prepare for the match v Mexico in Houston on Feb 6.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Massive MLS Rumor Mongerville
It's official now that Chivas USA keeper Brad Guzan is off to Celtic for a serious trial. The word is that Celtic has offered 1 Million Pounds for the Worm. Damn that is low.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

While Celtic's Polish forward Maciej Zurawski could be headed to the Columbus Crew.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I heard from the guys I was watching the African Cup of Nations with today that Nigerian left back Celestine Babayaro is headed to LA. Could be, could be. He is 30 years old currently club-less (as of a month ago). He has played for Anderlecht, Chelsea & Newcastle. And current LA coach Ruud Gullit is the man who brought him to Chelsea.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Argentine midfielder Marcelo Gallardo could be headed to MLS from Paris St Germain. He is best known for his days at River Plate.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Is Colorado trying to pry Christian Gomez away from DC United?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chivas USA has acquired Chicago defender Jim Curtain. JC has been all but non-existent in Chicago since 06.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American midfielder Benny Feilhaber's agent told Yanks Abroad that he does not want to come to MLS right now. He wants to stay in Europe.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An "anonymous" emailer told me that Chase Hilgenbrinck is coming home to MLS from Chile, where he has been playing for Nublense. Does any team "hold" his rights?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep is reporting that Dallas defender Chris Gbandi is in Norway on trial with Haugesund.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andy Herron is either headed back to Chicago or Suprissa. Either way, he is out of Columbus.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Actual Genuine MLS News & Stuff
AOL Sports Fanhouse has a video interview with New York coach Juan Carlos Osorio at the MLS Superdraft. JCO has some words on Chicago. It also mentions the hilarious Section 8 Xmas card. (thanks to Ben for sending me one of those priceless gems.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Bell of the New York Times with an article on Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio who is headed to South America to find new players. Last time he came back with defender Wilman Conde for Chicago. That worked out pretty well. Plus other world soccer news.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe on New England buying LA right full back Chris Albright. I think it was a great move on the Rev's part.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog has a quick Q & A with Fire draftee Patrick Nyarko.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Seattle Times says that the Sounders are already scouting for players for 09 MLS.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at Soccernet has some really great scuttle butt from the Superdraft - the ins, outs, arounds and upsidedowns so to speak.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet decides which teams did the best job on draft day.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports with his top draft day news review.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis at MLSnet with an article on the last player selected in the Superdraft.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS will hold a 4 round "supplemental draft" of players still available from the Superdraft last week. It will happen on Thursday afternoon.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer with an expansion article on who has the advantage right now - Philly or St Louis? And what about Miami, NYC, Vancouver and Montreal? There is also mention of some of the supporters hi-jinx at the Superdraft in Baltimore!
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USA U23 Training Camp
-The Olympic qualifying team is training in Bradenton FL in preparation of the qualifying tournament in late March.
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Official team blog.
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Americans In Europe - How'd they do this weekend?
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on at half time of a 1-0 home win over Feirense in Taca (Cup) de Portugal.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - played 90 at left back in a 0-3 home loss to Arsenal.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - played the entire match and scored his teams final goal as they trounced AZ Alkmaar 4-0 at home.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - started and lasted 80 minutes in a 0-2 home loss to Manchester United. Got a yellow card in the 70th minute for ?.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - started up top by himself at home, went the distance, and lost 0-3 at home to Arsenal.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - played the whole match and drew 1-1 at home v Charlton.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - his career at Derby appears to be over as the team is shopping him around.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - went 90 as always, but could only draw 1-1 at home v Middlesbrough.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went the full 90 as always but lost again, 0-2 at home to Manchester United.
-Tim Howard - Everton - started and went 90 as always in goal, and won 1-2 at Wigan. He was the only American in England that got a win this weekend.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - came on in the 32nd minute of a 3-1 loss at Portsmouth.
-Clint Mathis - Ergotolis - did not dress as his new team lost 1-0 at Panathanikos.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on for seconds at the end of a 1-1 road tie at Manchester City.
-Danny Szetela - Racing Santander - on the bench again, but did not play in his teams 1-0 road loss to Barcelona.
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We keep hearing rumors that Danny Szetela is going to be sent out on loan for the rest of the season by Racing. Stay tuned.
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And the rumor mill at Fulham(erica) keeper rolling to, as they are already being linked to yet another manager - Slaven Bilic of Croatia was in attendance Saturday for the teams 0-3 home loss to Arsenal.
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American Soccer Daily says it looks like USA U17 midfielder Jared Jeffrey is headed to Belgium's Club Brugge. Now I have never been to Brugge, but if I were a farmer and retarded I might like it there, but I'm not, so I probably wouldn't. (This is a bit of an inside movie geek joke.)
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English FA Cup - 3rd round replays. Americans are in action:
-Tue Jan 22
Bristol Rovers v Fulham
Sheffield Wednesday v Derby
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Big Euro Matches This Past Weekend
Villarreal 3-0 Valencia - it was no contest in the Valencia derby.
Hearts 1-0 Hibernian - Hearts still rules the Edinburgh derby.
Atletico Madrid 0-2 Real Madrid - oh yeah, the Madrid derby, but Real proved that Atletico are still pretenders.
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Roma fans have been banned from their clubs Italian Cup match on Wednesday v Sampdoria after 3 Catania fans were stabbed by Roma fans at a Serie A match in Rome on Sunday. These idiots have got to go. Roma's fans are particularly out of control these days.
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The Observer has an indepth interview with West Ham midfielder Lee Bowyer, who insists he is not the bad guy he is made out to be.
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Reuters asks the question many Italian calcio fans want to ask - What is wrong with Lazio? (Besides the whole Fascism thing.)
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Phil Ball of Soccernet on the Madrid derby and a history lesson on Spain's biggest daily tabloid paper Marca.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on the growing ugliness of fans at Liverpool being directed at the teams ownership.
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FK Moscow & Zenit will kick off the new Russian season in late March with a game at Stamford Bridge in London. Odd, but kinda cool too. Must be all those oil barons slapping each other on the back.
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Several from The Guardian:
-Paul Wilson on the taming of the English stadium crowds. This is the polar opposite of the Roma situation. Neither situation is acceptable.
-Paul Doyle with the 6 best African footballers of all time.
-Somehow Eusebio tops the above list. And even though he was born in Mozambique, he and everyone else in the football world consider him Portuguese.
-Paolo Bandini on Serie A - Inter's win that they didn't deserve, but there was no controversy - that was a handball on the goal line, no mistaking that. And so was Torsten Frings denying a USA goal for Germany at the 2002 World Cup. Take that Hugh Dallas.
-Sid Lowe on La Liga - Real own the Madrid derby.
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African Cup of Nations
Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Sun Jan 20
Ghana 2-1 Guinea - Ghan goals by Asamoah Gyan(PK) & Sulley Muntari. Guin goal by Oumar Kalabane.
-Mon Jan 21
Namibia 1-5 Morocco - Nam goal by Brian Brendell. Mor goals by Soufiane Alloudi(3!!), Tarik Sektioui(PK) & Monsef Zerka.
Nigeria 0-1 Cote D’Ivoire - goal by Salomon Kalou.
Mali 1-0 Benin - goal by Frederic Kanoute(PK).
-Tue Jan 22
Cameroon v Egypt
Zambia v Sudan
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3 from Brian Oliver at the Guardian in Ghana:
-A look ahead to the young talents who may play now, and could be ripe for WC 2010 in South Africa.
-Checking in with a great/crazy report from Day One.
-Press box report on Ivory Coast v Nigeria & Mali v Benin. There was a riot in the press area!