My Favorite Part Of Getting Here Early News

From the English Tabloid rumor mill: Everton boss David Moyes will have to come up with £4.5m ($9 million) for Heerenveen midfielder Michael Bradley.


MLS News

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News with an article Salt Lake's new defensive acquisition Nat Borchers.
-Edward then updates us on the teams spring training, and mentions that RSL's 4th Argentine player, midfielder Matias Cordoba has gotten his visa is en route to meet up with the team in Florida. He is on loan from Argentinos Juniors.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe reports that New England has signed left sided Honduran midfielder Mauricio Castro from Olimpia.
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Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated drops into LA to check on both Galaxy & Chivas USA preseason action.
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Forward Andy Herron has been signed again by the Chicago Fire. This was the team that originally brought him to the league. He played very little for Columbus last season. Will he help? Will he even make the roster?
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Ives Galarcep of the Herald News says it's official that New York has added striker Oscar Echeverry to their squad. He is a Colombian who last played for Colombia's biggest team Atletico Nacional.
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The Washington Post with another update today on the site/deal for possible DC United stadium.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports gives us a look at LA's first Ruud Gullit training camp.
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer asks New York coach Juan Carlos Osorio how many forwards will make the roster.
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Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram writes about the arrival of Mexican defender Davino in Dallas, and wonders if people are right or wrong when they say he is too slow.
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Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch gives us a little more info on Ze German, Lars Ricken, who is trying out with the Crew.
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New England's official team blog has photos from training in Bermuda. Yes, the Rev's have a blog too now. Excellent.
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Colorado has been using this picture of new star midfielder Christian Gomez. Where did they get it taken? Sears or JC Penney?
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Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer with his always great Friday collection - The Barometer.
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MLS Preseason Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Feb 14
Columbus 2-0 USA U17s in Bradenton FL
Toronto 1-2 Odense Boldklub (Denmark) in Bradenton FL
-Fri Feb 15
New York 3-1 Hammarby (Sweden) at HDC
-Sat Feb 16
Columbus v U South Florida in Bradenton FL
San Jose v Houston at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco
Kansas City v Toronto (split squad for KC) in Bradenton FL
Kansas City v Chicago (split squad for KC) in Bradenton FL
Dallas v U Memphis at PHP
Bermuda v New England in Bermuda against the national team
Chivas USA v Japan U23 at HDC
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The San Jose Mercury News has an audio slide show from the New Earthquakes first preseason match the other night. Nothing great, but decent enough.
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MLS Rumor City

Soccer By Ives is reporting a real odd one - LA Galaxy 2nd year center back Ty Harden has retired from the game to work in the normal world. I sure didn't see that one coming.
-Billy Witz of the Daily Breeze on Harden. It seems that everyone is in the dark on this one, but he told the team 2 weeks ago that he was done. The Galaxy has still not acknowledged that he is gone.
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Steven Goff of the Soccer Insider then reports that LA is making a deal with DC United to acquire centerback Greg Vanney as cover. The Galaxy will ship young midfielder Quavas Kirk to the east coast as compensation.
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Goal.com talked to Houston coach Dom Kinnear about the possibility of Benny Feilhaber joining his team and DK said: “That’s the first I’ve heard anything about Benny coming here.”
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The talk of Mexican forward Chuy Mendoza heading to the Chicago Fire will not die down. Morelia is his current in a long string of Mexican teams.
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England's Daily Mail claims that MLS #2 Ivan Gazidis has turned down an offer to become the Executive Chairman for Manchester City. I have to admit it's kind of amazing that he would turn down that job. He must feel pretty damn good about the future of MLS.
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Team USA

I missed this on Wednesday - Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune gives us his analysis of USA v Mexico from the match the week prior. He always has a great perspective on things.
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Ian Plenderleith of the US Soccer Players Assoc give us the options for Team USA right back beyond Steve Cherundolo. Cuz Drew Moor sure proved he was not the answer v Mexico despite his excellent pass to Jozy Altidore for the second goal.
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Soccer In America

The LA Times with a story on the young people of their city who love one sport above all others (by a long shot). That game is soccer.
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Americans In Europe

The Fulham website spends a few minutes chatting with Eddie Johnson about his new team.
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American Soccer Daily talks to Andrew Jacobson who passed up a chance to play for DC United when he got offered a deal with Lorient of Ligue Un in France. He was recommended to the club by Pascal Bedrossian who played with the Chicago Fire for a short time.
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One of Clint Mathis's teammates at Ergotelis in Greece faces a 2 years suspension after testing positive for cocaine. Damn.
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Games played midweek:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - came on for the last 5 minutes of a UEFA Cup home win, 1-0 over Nuremberg.
-Tim Howard - Everton - played all 90 of a UEFA Cup match at Brann and came home a 2-0 winner.
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Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Feb 14
Cienciano 2-1 Nacional
Lanus 3-1 Danubio
-Tue Feb 19
Audax Italiano v Sportivo Luqueno
Chivas Guadalajara v San Jose
Coronel Bolognesi v Nacional
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Group Stage Standings
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European News

FIFA boss Sepp Blatter says that there is no way his organization will let the Premiership stage an entire round of games outside their own country. Let the showdown begin.
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Barney Ronay of the Guardian spends a day with a lower division English team and comes away with this story.
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Real Madrid midfielder Wesley Sneider suffered a broken rib at practice today, and could be out for a couple of weeks.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune says that Arsenal does not miss recently departed star Thierry Henry.
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The Independent talks to infamous former Arsenal defender Martin Keown.
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Ronaldo - Bento Ribeiro - El Fenomeno

Kevin McCarra of the Guardian writes about the knee-blow-out-disaster of the brilliant Ronaldo. Including a great career highlights timeline.
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Not sure if Ronaldo is one of the all time great goal scorers? Gnaw on these stats - no one recently has come with a mile of this:
-Cruziero - 12 goals in 13 games
-PSV - 55 goals in 57 games
-Barcelona - 47 goals in 49 games
-Inter - 49 goals in 69 games
-Real Madrid - 83 goals in 127 games
-All club games including cup competitions etc - 240 goals in 392 games!
-Brazil - 62 goals in 97 games
-World Cup - 15 goals in 19 games
And 3 times he won the FIFA World Player Of The Year, despite blowing out his right knee twice at the peak of his career with Inter.
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And check out this video from You Tube of one of his great games - Manchester United 4-3 Real Madrid - 2003 Champions League - Ronny nabs all 3! (What a game!)
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James Lawton of the Independent says despite some of the "scandal" surrounding Ronaldo he is undoubtedly great.
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FIFA.com with an article on the career of Ronaldo.
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UEFA Cup

Round of 32 - Knockout - 1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Feb 13
Zenit St Petersburg 1-0 Villarreal - goal by Pavel Pogrebnyak.
Galatasaray 0-0 Bayer Leverkusen
AEK Athens 1-1 Getafe - AEK goal by Ismael Blanco. Get goal by Ruben De la Red.
Brann 0-2 Everton - goals by Leon Osman & Victor Anichebe.
Werder Bremen 3-0 Braga - goals by Naldo, Daniel Jensen & Hugo Almeida
Olympique Marseille 3-0 Spartak Moskva - goals by Benoit Cheyrou, Taye Taiwo & Mamadou Niang.
PSV Eindhoven 2-0 Helsingborg - goals by Timmy Simons(PK) & Danko Lazovic.
Anderlecht 2-1 Girondins de Bordeaux - And goals by Jan Polak & Mbo Mpenza. Bord goal by Jussie(PK).
Glasgow Rangers 0-0 Panathanikos
Sporting Clube de Portugal 2-0 Basel - both goals by Simon Vukcevic.
-Thu Feb 14
Aberdeen 2-2 Bayern Munchen - Abr goals by Josh Walker & Sone Aluko. Bay goals by Miroslav Klose & Hamit Altintop.
Zurich 1-3 Hamburger - Zur goal by Alain Rochat. Ham goals by David Jarolim, Ivica Olic & Piotr Trochowski.
Rosenborg 0-1 Fiorentina - goal by Adrian Mutu.
Slavia Praha 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur - Slav goal by David Strihavka. Tott goals by Dimitar Berbatov & Robbie Keane.
Bolton 1-0 Atletico Madrid - goal by El Hadji Diouf.
Benfica 1-0 Nurnberg - goal by Ariza Makukula.
-All 2nd Leg Matches on Thu Feb 21
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During Everton's win in Norway on Wednesday night, some one in the stands through a pool ball at American keeper Tim Howard. Luckily they missed. As the match ended several Everton fans who had traveled to take in the game, ran on to the field. I guess the security was not too hot.
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Euro League Cup Competitions

English FA Cup
5th Round (16 teams) Matches & Scores:
-Sat Feb 16
Bristol Rovers v Southampton
Cardiff v Wolverhampton
Chelsea v Huddersfield
Coventry v West Bromich
Liverpool v Barnsley
Manchester United v Arsenal
Preston v Portsmouth
Sheffield United v Middlesbrough
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The Times blog The Game previews this round.
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The Telegraph says the FA Cup needs a real underdog to emerge and breathe some life into the tournament.
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Big Euro League Club Matches This Weekend

Scores & Matches:
-Sat Feb 16
Juventus v Roma - #3 v #2
Manchester United v Arsenal - 5th Round of the FA Cup
-Sun Feb 17
Club Brugge v Standard Liege - #1 v #2 in Belgium
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World News

Goal.com give us a list of 11 players currently at clubs that are not nearly good enough to hold their talent. Nice list.
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Lastly

If you want some real You Tube goose bumps just watch Manchester United come from 1-0 down after the 90th minute to steal the 1999 Champions League title from Bayern Munich. I remember watching this happen on TV and just going nuts with my friends! It was incomprehensible.

Report From New San Jose Earthquakes First Exhibition Match

I got this email from a reader named DougO, and wanted to share it with everyone:


I took my 9-yr old to PAL (Police Athletic League) Stadium in San Jose last night. This match was the first time our newly reconstituted EQs have taken the field, so it was bittersweet to watch them go up against the Dynamo. Dynamo won 1-0 on a 43rd minute goal from Ricardo Clark off a goal-mouth scramble, as you've probably already heard.

Dynamo certainly had the better of the run of play and controlled more possession, generated more chances- but the Quakes were swift and opportunistic, penetrating on several slashing combinations in each half. Dynamo started out with many of our old favorites- Ching up front (with Wondolowski), DeRosario, Clark, Holden, and Mulrooney in M, and Robinson and Onstadt anchoring the D (couldn't see the other D). EQ started Glinton up top, and wow is he fast. Kamara started as well. Mids were Guerero, Grabavoy, Vide, and (couldn't see the right mid). In the back I can't say I saw Cochrane- although the disappointment I felt over Yallop's trade for Garcia was only amplified when he hacked DeRo from behind twice in the 4th minute and was whistled for similar antics in the 8th- he kept it up all game, and I must say I hope Yallop gives up on him sooner than later. Riley impressed, as did Cannon. Again, I missed some of the starting D.

PAL Stadium is not very wide nor long, so play was constricted, or I think Houston would have run all over us. As it was, the tight quarters gave both teams opportunities, which bodes well for Yallop's approach to talent, (slow, hacky Garcia aside)- after only two weeks it's still very sloppy but the attempts and infrequent successes suggest that a lot of these guys have the talent to play a nice fast tight passing game, as the old EQs did under him and under Kinnear, and as they've continued to do so well since leaving. No subs in the first half, a few at the break and after, then in the 60th minute both teams ran a wholesale bench-swap- everybody not playing came on except Waibel, and maybe Davis stayed out.

New EQs who impressed- Glinton, Riley, Guerrero, Cannon, Burpo, Smarte, Taylor, Morales, Curry- and whoever was wearing (Cochrane's) #5 after the substitutions the last 30 minutes- he was fast and tricky (4 guys are listed on the roster we rcv'd without numbers, one of those- probably Nunez from Brazil). Kamara was fast enough and good enough with the ball to get into good positions and receive the ball, but too slow to decide what to do with it; got stripped again and again.

Well, enough rambling- hope you find something you can use. We enjoyed it, and it wasn't the slaughter we expected.

MLS has returned to San Jose, and this is good.

Bears Just Want To News

MLS News

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe reports that New England forward Taylor Twellman did not travel with the team to training camp in Bermuda due to his groin injury. And two Costa Rican players will be joining the team for a try out.
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Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree gives a rave-up on the Brazilian FC Dallas just signed from Paranaense - Andre Rocha.
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American Soccer Daily says American defender Nat Borchers has returned from Odd Grenland in Norway to sign with Real Salt Lake. The question not answered in this article is how RSL got his rights.
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Toronto midfielder Carl Robinson writes an article [LINK FIXED] about his career these days with TFC for The County Times in his native Wales. I like to see players write articles.
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The Newcastle Chronicle (of England) with an article on Toronto's new coach John Carver. One funny note from this article - the claim that games at Giant Stadium and RFK are enticements to coach in MLS. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. They obviously are still stuck in 1974.
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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch with an article on Crew "veteran" midfielder Brain Carroll.
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Mitchell on his Covering The Crew blog gives us the skinny on trialist Lars Ricken of Borussia Dortmund.
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The San Jose Mercury News and the Houston Chronicle on the sale of left back Ramiro Corrales from the Dynamo to the EQuakes.
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Nick Green of the LA Daily News gives us one of the only looks we have had so far of new LA Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit.
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The Associated Press with a story on the future of USA soccer - Jozy Altidore. Via USA Today.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger writes about the Amazing Altidore too.
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Soccer By Ives is reporting that New York has signed forward Oscar Echeverry. He is a Colombian player who, according to Wikipedia is signed with NYRB coach Juan Carlos Osorio's former club Millonarios, but that he only just arrived there and possibly never had a deal with them. He last played for Atletico Nacional.
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to Red Bulls midfielder Dema Kovalenko about the teams goals for this season. And he also talks to Dema about the departure of former coach Bruce Arena.
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The Salinas Californian newspaper with a story on young exciting San Jose Earthquakes player with a familiar name - Shea Salinas.
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Sports Illustrated Latino has a story on Jorge Flores who won a contract with Chivas USA last year during their reality TV show tryouts. And this kid has turned out to be the real deal! Amazing story if you ask me.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports ranks his Top 20 MLS Players. I have some fairly strong disagreements with parts of this list. Do you?
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Jeff Bradley at MLSnet gives us the people no longer on the scene that he misses most from the first 12 years of the league - First XI: Missing You
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Steve Davis at Soccernet writes about the quickly evolving Technical Director position at MLS clubs.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer says MLS is close to awarding their city with an expansion team. Very close.
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Dave Lifton of the US Soccer Players Association does a Q & A with the MLS exec in charge of broadcasting. Some pretty interesting things here.
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Andrew Dixon also at the USSPA looks at the possibility of the return of MLS to Miami.
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MLS Preseason Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Wed Feb 13
San Jose 0-1 Houston at PAL Stadium in San Jose
Chicago 3-2 Columbus in Bradenton FL
-Thu Feb 14
Columbus v USA U17s in Bradenton FL
Toronto 1-2 Odense Boldklub (Denmark) in Bradenton FL
-Fri Feb 15
New York v Hammarby (Sweden) at HDC
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The San Jose Mercury News with a report on the new Earthquakes first exhibition match last night against their former selves - the Houston Dynamo.
-An interesting comment from a reader was left on the SJMN site about the place where the game was held: "Nothing said about the deplorable conditions of PAL Stadium? No comments about the food lines, or the parking lines? No comments about playing in a stadium with a small field and a running track? No comments about the horrible bathroom conditions?" Probably not the way New Quakes should launch their team.
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MLS Rumor City

Are things finally turning around in the stadium building hunt for DC United in the District itself? Could be.
-The Washington Post with an update.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle is insinuating that something interesting is coming from the Dynamo very soon. Could this be the Benny Feilhaber news?
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Houston forward Paul Dalglish is in Leeds on a try out.
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Toronto & Columbus are going to encourage a growing rivalry by coming up with a trophy for the two teams to play for this season. Let's hope this fake intensity becomes real.
-Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail On Soccer blog wonders what this is all about.
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Goalkeeper Josh Wagenaar of Dutch team ADO Den Haag is on trial with TFC. He is a Canadian citizen.
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W Connection defender David Attiba Charles is trying out with the New York Red Bulls. He is from Trinidad & Tobago.
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Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News says that in the end Dallas passed on Guatemalan defender Gustavo Cabrera. Plus info on another player they are possibly chasing.
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Nick Green of the LA Daily New says French midfielder Marko Muslin is getting a tryout from Chivas USA. He last played for Lierse in Belgium.
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USL First Division & PDL

The Vancouver Whitecaps have officially booked their friendly v Los Angeles in Edmonton for May 13. And there is also a rumor that they will play a Premiership team in mid-summer. The teams being mentioned at this time are Aston Villa, Blackburn, Everton & West Ham United.
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Portland announced that they re-signed goalkeeper Josh Wicks, and with it comes his amazing head of hair.
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Seattle is beginning to fill out there roster for 08. They had already signed Ben Dragavon, Sebastien Le Toux, Noah Merl, Colin Rigby, Kevin Sakuda, Andre Schmid, Zach Scott & Adam West (yes, Batman). Now they have announced the signings of Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, Taylor Graham, Danny Jackson, Roger Levesque (the Face Kicker), Leighton O'Brien & Kenji Treschuk. And they hope to have goalkeeper Chris Eylander signed soon.
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Americans In Europe

Fox Soccer talks to Freddy Adu about Then, Now and Next.
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Tango TV in Norway has a video clip of Adin Brown interviewing new teammate Pat Noonan at Aalesund. (thanks to Terry for this link)
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CONCACAF News

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle says that CONCACAF teams need to up their level of opponents in friendlies etc. The USA is the only one currently making real strides in the right direction.
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Fallas on his Soccer y Futbol blog has some quotes from Dynamo midfielder Dwayne De Rosario, calling out the Canadian Soccer Association for their incompetence. Great stuff.
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These things have a way of snowballing too, and several dedicated fans of soccer in Canada are taking it upon themselves to stand up to the official Canadian Soccer Association and say: We have had enough - we need change now. I love people who stand up for themselves. Good luck to our Maple Leaf friends.
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Our beloved CONCACAF leader Jack Warner has turned against the USA and said he will support England's bid to host the 2018 World Cup. Last year he dogged England viciously, but now that his home country of Trinidad & Tobago want to host England in a friendly he has changed his tune 180 degrees. Anything for a buck, right Jackie boy?
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The Royal Gazette of Bermuda talks to one of their most famous football players of the past Shaun Goater about the current horrible state of Bermuda football. Especially after they could only muster a tie in the World Cup qualifier v the Cayman Islands.
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The RG also has an article with a recently fired national team assistant coach who has nothing good to say.
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The Bermuda Sun talks to Keith Tucker, their national team coach, as he prepares his team for an exhibition v the New England Revolution this weekend.
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Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Feb 12
Deportivo Cuenca 1-0 Estudiantes
Caracas 2-0 San Lorenzo
-Feb 13
Cucuta Deportivo 0-0 Santos
Dep Univ San Martin 2-0 River Plate
Coronel Bolognesi 0-0 Flamengo
Cruzeiro 3-0 Bamin Real Potosi
-Feb 14
Cienciano v Nacional
Lanus v Danubio
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Group Stage Standings
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Gregory Sica of Sports Illustrated gives us his look at how Libertadores could unfold this year. Some big name players have joined up.
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The Guardian with a story on Brazil's best chance at Libertadores gold this year - Cruzeiro.
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European News

du Nord's favorite player has suffered yet another extreme set back. The real Ronaldo has blown out his left knee tendons again. He will need surgery that will keep him out of action for at least a year. Could this be the end? He has never been the hardest worker in training, but has come back from similar injuries twice before (to his other knee). I hope this is not the way he goes out.
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Jeffrey Marcus of the New York Times Goal blog gives us the low-lights of Ronaldo's amazing career so far.
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Ronaldo's team AC Milan also missed out on a prime chance to move into a 4th place in Serie A by only managing a 1-1 tie at home with Livorno. This was their final game in hand over the rest of the league.
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Marcela Mora y Araujo of the Guardian with a cool story on 2 Argentine trailblazers into English football 30 years ago.
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Another Guardian story, this one on the source of inspiration for Arsenal forward Emmanuel Adebayor's goal scoring magic (he leads the Premiership with 20) - it's text messages from Thierry Henry!
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UEFA Cup

Round of 32 - Knockout - 1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Feb 13
Zenit St Petersburg 1-0 Villarreal - goal by Pavel Pogrebnyak.
Galatasaray 0-0 Bayer Leverkusen
AEK Athens 1-1 Getafe - AEK goal by Ismael Blanco. Get goal by Ruben De la Red.
Brann 0-2 Everton - goals by Leon Osman & Victor Anichebe.
Werder Bremen 3-0 Braga - goals by Naldo, Daniel Jensen & Hugo Almeida
Olympique Marseille 3-0 Spartak Moskva - goals by Benoit Cheyrou, Taye Taiwo & Mamadou Niang.
PSV Eindhoven 2-0 Helsingborg - goals by Timmy Simons(PK) & Danko Lazovic.
Anderlecht 2-1 Girondins de Bordeaux - And goals by Jan Polak & Mbo Mpenza. Bord goal by Jussie(PK).
Glasgow Rangers 0-0 Panathanikos
Sporting Clube de Portugal 2-0 Basel - both goals by Simon Vukcevic.
-Thu Feb 14
Aberdeen v Bayern Munchen
Zurich v Hamburger
Rosenborg v Fiorentina
Slavia Praha v Tottenham Hotspur
Bolton v Atletico Madrid
Benfica v Nurnberg
-All 2nd Leg Matches on Thu Feb 21
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Bremen keeper Tim Wiese stopped not one, but two Penalty Kicks by Braga!
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World News

There is an unintentionally hilarious article making the rounds today via wire service reports entitled: "Casillas and Raul commit to Real Madrid for life." My question is this - Did Real Madrid make a "For life" commitment back to those player in writing? Or is this just a complete waste of an article? Yeah, I thought so.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times with his world soccer news roundup - Corner Kicks.
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Ravi Ubha of the Seattle Post Intelligencer with his world soccer news recap.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times with an article on UEFA pres Michel Platini and his push for changes in the game in Europe. Plus other news from around the world.
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The BBC says FIFA goomba Sepp Blatter has a plan to have the 2010 World Cup in South Africa played on artificial surfaces. Wow. How much did Field Turf stuff in his pocket to get him to say something that inane.
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And Pat Walsh of Goal.com thinks Blatter's turf plan is not the worst he has heard. Ok ok, I will check it out.
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Lastly

I stole this one directly from Luis Arroyave on his Red Card blog - I know its pretty corny and sappy and everything I am not, but I like this article from the Chicago Sun Times about Valentines day. Yes, you read that correctly, I liked it. Scroll down and you will see story from Fire midfielder Diego Gutierrez and Sun Times soccer writer Lacy Banks about the loves of their life. (I am not the complete monster some people say I am.) I know that I need to get busy and find the love of my life, cuz I am seriously lacking in that department.

Caught With Absolutely No Help News

MLS News

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle does a Q & A with MLS Commish Donald Garber.
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Dallas has signed another player from their Brazilian partner Paranaense. He is midfielder Andre Rocha.
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MLS Preseason Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Feb 12
Kansas City 1-1 DC in Bradenton FL
Chivas USA 1-0 New York at HDC
-Wed Feb 13
San Jose v Houston at PAL Stadium in San Jose
Chicago v Columbus in Bradenton FL
-Thu Feb 14
Columbus v USA U17s in Bradenton FL
Toronto v Odense Boldklub (Denmark) in Bradenton FL
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MLS Rumor City

In an article from Soccer America that we linked to yesterday Benny Feilhaber was saying that he is desperate to get out of Derby County on a loan move. MLS was mentioned among other ideas. Then lo and behold a pajaro flew in my window last night saying that Benny and Houston were talking. The Dynamo could really use a forward quite a bit more than another midfielder, but if you were Houston would you turn him down? I sure wouldn't. Maybe they could push DDR into becoming a forward again?
-But if you read what De Rosario tells Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle today, he wants NO PART of playing forward.
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The rumblings of potential summer tours by both Real Madrid and Barcelona get louder and louder.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Houston has sold their rights to left back Ramiro Corrales to San Jose. From what I can tell Corrales still does not have a contract settled to leave Brann in Norway and play in MLS, but it seems inevitable. Good pick up for San Jose though.
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US Soccer News

The Development Academy run by US Soccer has hired former Chicago Fire head coach Dave Sarachan as their Scouting Manager. He will be searching for player for all the Academy teams, finding players from the current teams to move to higher levels, and helping teach academy team coaches.
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Americans In Europe

Mid-week games:
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - still out injured as his team beat Leicester 1-0 at home.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - still out injured as his team tied with Charlton 0-0 at home.
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Copa Libertadores

The final qualifying round.
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Feb 12
Audax Italiano 1-0 Chico - series tied 4-4, and Audax advance on the away goals rule.
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European News

AC Milan will make up their final game in hand Wednesday, and if they win they will vault into 4th place ahead of Fiorentina.
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UEFA Cup

Round of 32 - Knockout - 1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Feb 13
Zenit St Petersburg v Villarreal
Galatasaray v Bayer Leverkusen
AEK Athens v Getafe
Brann v Everton
Werder Bremen v Braga
Olympique Marseille v Spartak Moskva
PSV Eindhoven v Helsingborgs
Anderlecht v Girondins de Bordeaux
Glasgow Rangers v Panathinaikos
Sporting de Portugal v Basel
-Thu Feb 14
Aberdeen v Bayern Munchen
Zurich v Hamburger
Rosenborg v Fiorentina
Slavia Praha v Tottenham Hotspur
Bolton v Atletico Madrid
Benfica v Nurnberg
-All 2nd Leg Matches on Thu Feb 21

Snuck It In Via Friends News

MLS News

It will be tough for any other team to top this one this week:
Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer says that none other than Diego Serna is in training camp with the New York Red Bulls!
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Ives Galarcep of the Herald News writes about New York forward Jozy Altidore who is getting a vacation right now, while his teammates toil. Jozy will be more than busy in 08.
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The San Jose Mercury News, and the San Francisco Chronicle both with articles on the upcoming San Jose v Houston preseason matches.
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Nick Green of the LA Daily News gets his first look at new LA Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit.
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The Chicago Daily Herald asks the questions now that the Fire have begun spring training in earnest. Coaches & players try to give answers.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe looks at the New England Revolution now that they have less key players. How is this going to work?
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The Tacoma WA News Tribune has an article on the new MLS in Seattle owners & MLS HQ try to justify playing in a that gigantic stadium instead of building a nice new home like the league is mandating every other city to do.
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to Nick Sakiewicz about progress on a potential MLS team in Philadelphia.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer with an article of the pros and cons of the economic impact when spending large amounts of money on new stadiums.
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A columnist for the LA Times requests an interview with Beckman, gets turned down, so he uses most of the column to rip Becks a new one. I guess it was a slow sports week.
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Adam Smartschan of the Cape Cod Times gives a look inside how a deal/trade/sale gets done in MLS.
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MLS Preseason Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Feb 11
Toronto 0-0 Odense Boldklub - in Bradenton FL
-Tue Feb 12
Kansas City v DC - in Bradenton FL
Chivas USA v New York - at HDC
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MLS Rumor City

Harry Kewell of Liverpool to MLS for free in the summer? There ya go, pay a guy a bunch of money to sit on the bench injured. Hahaha. Next.
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Real Salt Lake might be giving a try out to Indra Sahdan, striker for Singapore team Home United.
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USL First Division & PDL

Minnesota Thunder goalkeeper Nic Platter is in preseason training camp with the all new San Jose Earthquakes.
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My Thunder also signed Canadian forward Alen Marcina. He spent last season floating around from Puerto Rico to Montreal to Vancouver without finding a home at any of them.
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Americans In Europe

BBC has an article on Reading keeper Marcus Hahnemann who is begging his teammates to step up and avoid relegation.
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And what does Hahmemann think of playing 39 regular season games instead of 38 in the English top division? See this video for the answer. (thanks Todd to for the link)
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Eddie Johnson played 90 minutes for the Fulham reserves yesterday. (Thanks to BQ for that)
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Mike Woitalla of Soccer America looks at Benny Feilhaber - going nowhere, fast, at Derby County. Via Sport Illustrated.
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Monday game:
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - went the full 90 as always, but lost 2-0 at Arsenal.
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Copa Libertadores

The final qualifying round.
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Feb 12
Audax Italiano v Chico (3-4)
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European News

The Wall Street Journal tells us what they think of the Premiership playing official league games around the world.
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The UEFA Cup resumes on Wed & Thu this week with the first leg of knock out rounds.
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Top Goal Scorers In Europe’s Big Leagues

-La Liga-
16 Luis Fabiano - Sevilla
14 Diego Milito - Zaragoza
12 Ruud van Nistelrooy - Real Madrid
11 Raul
11 Daniel Guiza - Mallorca
11 Kahveci Nihat - Villarreal

-Bundesliga-
11 Rafael Van der Vaart - Hamburg
10 Diego - Werder Bremen
10 Luca Toni - Bayern Munich
9 Mladen Petric - Borussia Dortmund
9 Miroslav Klose - Bayern Munich
9 Stanislav Sestak - Bochum
9 Marko Pantelic - Hertha

-Serie A-
15 David Trezeguet - Juventus
14 Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Inter Milan
13 Adrian Mutu - Fiorentina
12 Marco Borriello - Genoa
10 Francesco Tavano - Livorno
10 Francesco Totti - Roma
10 Claudio Bellucci - Sampdoria
10 Julio Cruz - Inter Milan

-Eredivisie-
23 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar - Ajax
18 Blaise N'Kufo - Twente
14 Robin Nelisse - Utrecht
13 Roy Makaay - Feyenoord
13 Michael Bradley - Heerenveen

-Premiership-
20 Emmanuel Adebayor - Arsenal
19 Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United
13 Benjani Mwaruwari - Manchester City
12 Robbie Keane - Tottenham
12 Fernando Torres - Liverpool

-Ligue Un-
16 Karim Benzema - Lyon
11 Mamadou Niang - Marseille
11 David Bellion - Bordeaux
10 Johan Elmander - Toulouse
10 Tulio De Melo - Le Mans

-Portuguese Liga-
13 Lisandro Lopez - Porto
9 Roland Linz - Braga
8 Joao Paulo - Uniao Leiria
7 Ariza Makukula - Maritimo
7 Oscar Cardozo - Benfica
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African News

Kick-Off tells us that several teams are inquiring with Nottingham Forest about the availability of forward Junior Agogo who played so well for Ghana at the ACN.

Depantsed By Vikings News

Egypt won their 6th African Cup of Nations on Sunday, beating Cameroon 1-0 on a goal by Mohamed Aboutreika in the 77th minute.

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Ives Galarcep is reporting what I kinda predicted last week - the USA will play in England on May 28. In reality I predicted the USA would play England on June 8 in the USA, cuz that's when all the other big Euro teams will be playing for the European Championship. The Wednesday May 28th date was supposedly Norway (who announced the game themselves). I also had Argentina as a possibility for June 8, so that makes even more sense, and a combo of game against England-Spain-Argentina would be amazing.

~and~

Did you buy anything from MLSgear in the first half of last year? If you did, then someone may have stolen your Name, Address & CC number. Not cool.


MLS News

Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch says its time for the Hunt family to give up the ship and sell the Crew to local owners. Here, here.
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Shawn Mitchell also of the Dispatch says the Crew have two Euro players in on a trial basis.
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The Kansas City Wizards website has a Q & A with their head coach Curt Onalfo.
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The Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post both with a stories on Colorado nabbing Christian Gomez from DC.
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Ives Galarcep writing for Soccernet thinks DC might have gotten the better of the Christian Gomez to Colorado deal.
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The Ottawa Citizen with an article that just comes right out and says that Toronto had lousy players last year. Ouch, but very true. I'm looking at you Carl Robinson. I didn't expect much out of many of those potato heads, but you were supposed to be half decent.
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Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail says the new TFC coach John Carver is ready to get down to the nitty gritty.
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Former RSL GM Steve Pastorino writing for the Salt Lake Tribune says preseason chemistry can go a long way all season.
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Jim Dow of Rev's net with Part 2 of his pre-preseason diatribe on New England.
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Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News says Rev's keeper Matt Reis is ready to move on from 2007 and tackle 2008.
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Adam Smartschan of the Cape Cod Times with an article on New England's probable new starting forward Adam Cristman.
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Smartschan also writes about the Rev's long time defender Jay Heaps. Was it me or was Heaps pretty awful last year?
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3rd Degree covered the Dallas match v Centro America on Saturday, and afterward got some questions in to Wycombe defender Sam Stockley who is Dallas on a trial run. Good stuff. Plus we get some updates on other FCD youngsters and trialists. (thanks to Luke for sending this our way)
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John Haydon of the Washington Times on the wide open door of American players leaving the country to play in Europe.
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Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com rounds up the past 7 days of MLS news.
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MLS Preseason Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Feb 8
Ventura County Fusion 0-7 Salt Lake - at Buena High in Ventura
Chicago 3-1 USA U17 - in Bradenton FL
-Sat Feb 9
Kansas City 0-4 Columbus - in Bradenton FL
Dallas 8-1 Centro America at Pizza Hut Park
Chicago 2-1 U South Florida - in Bradenton FL
-Mon Feb 11
Toronto 0-0 Odense Boldklub - in Bradenton FL
-Tue Feb 12
Kansas City v DC - in Bradenton FL
Chivas USA v New York - at HDC
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Australian team Sydney FC will play in the Pan Pacific tournament later this month, and Australian Four Four Two warns us that the team are no "cupcakes". Did I miss something? Did someone say they were? I didn't think so. But now that you have brought it up, they better prove it on the field.
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MLS Rumor City

American defender Nat Borchers has spent the last 2 years in Norway at Odd Grenland. And people have been whispering for months about a return to MLS. The latest destination is Salt Lake.
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Seattle is gonna install new turf at Qwest Field before their new MLS team starts play, but don't get excited, it will NOT be grass.
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USL First Division & PDL

The Vancouver Whitecaps did such a great job promoting their match last fall with the LA Galaxy, that they are going to do it again, this time over in Edmonton. The date for the match is not set, but the preliminary choice is last April/early May.
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The Charleston Post and Courier tells us that the Charleston Battery's home, Blackbaud Stadium, will now be run on solar power.
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The USL website has the story on how the First Division Puerto Rico Islanders and coach Colin Clarke are using their success to revive the island's national team fortunes.
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Team USA

Jozy Altidore writing for the New York Times Goal blog tells us about his experience playing 90 minutes versus Mexico.
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US Soccer with a couple more videos from last week that I have not linked to yet - 24 Hours of Clint Dempsey and Behind the Scenes: MNT 2, MEX 2.
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Blades of Blue with some nice photos from last weeks USA v Mexico game. (thanks a ton to Will for sharing these with us all)
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USA Olympic Team

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to coach Petr Nowak about the progress of his team.
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Americans In Europe

How'd their recent matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - had a Taca de Portugal match, and won 4-1 at home over Pacos de Ferreira. They advance to the Quarterfinals now. Adu was on the bench but did not play.
-Bryan Arguez - Hertha Berlin - did not dress for his teams 1-3 win at Stuttgart.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - went all 90 as usual and won 1-2 on the road at Kaiserslautern.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - watched from the bench as the team lost 1-0 on the road at Middlesbrough.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - went the full 90, SCORED AGAIN, and pulled off a 1-1 tie at league leaders PSV! They are still 9 points behind in 2nd, but are tied on points with Ajax, Feyenoord & Breda.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played all 90 in a 2-2 home tie with Karlsruhe.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - did not dress for a 1-0 loss at Everton.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - came on at half time of a 1-0 road loss at Middlesbrough.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - still out injured but the team got 3 points on the road winning 1-2 at Ipswich.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - was not on the bench for the 0-3 home loss to Tottenham.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - plays at Arsenal on Monday.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - played the entire game losing 1-0 at Everton.
-Tim Howard - Everton - played the whole 90 minutes of a 1-0 home win over Reading.
-Eddie Johnson - Fulham - did not dress for the 1-0 road loss at Middlesbrough.
-Kasey Keller - Fulham - dressed but did not play in a 1-0 road loss at Middlesbrough.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - was not on the bench for the 0-3 home loss to Tottenham.
-Clint Mathis - Ergotolis - comes on in the 76th minute, and miraculously scores for his team in the 90th minute to get a point at home, tying 2-2 with Apollon Kalamarias.
-Brian McBride - Fulham - came on in the 64th minute of a 1-0 road loss at Middlesbrough.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played all 90 but could only manage a 0-0 home tie with Roeselare.
-Matt Pickens - Queens Park Rangers - was on the bench for his first game with QPR, and they won 2-3 at Southampton.
-Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - was on the bench as the team lost 1-2 at home to Munich 1860.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on in the 90th minute and played the dying seconds of a 1-1 home draw with Birmingham.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - played all 90 and lost 1-2 at home to Greuther Furth. Unfortunately for Neven he gave up a foul close to goal, and on the free kick his man shook him loose and headed home the winning goal.
-Danny Szetela - Brescia - came on as a sub in the 86th minute as they won 2-4 on the road at Piacenza.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - started and played 83 minutes as the team won 1-2 on the road at Kaiserslautern.
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Michael Bradley scored in his 6th consecutive match for Heerenveen. That gives him 17 on the season in all competitions for his club.
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When was the last time there were NO Americans in the first 11 for Fulham. It happened this weekend. But there were 4 on the bench, and 2 came on as subs.
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As of today there are 9 American players in the Premiership relegation zone. That is kind of embarrassing.
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Tim Bresnahan of the Golden Boot blog has a Q & A with former New England forward Pat Noonan as he heads off to Aalesund in Norway.
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Turns out last week wasn't the first time the Jeremiah White had bad facial damage from the beautiful game. During his college days at Wake Forest he suffered a similar nasty injury. (thanks to Alex for this link)
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

Less than a week ago Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times called Guatemalan coach Hernan Dario Gomez the best in CONCACAF, but after his team was pulverized 5-0 by Argentina's Olympic qualifying team he has resigned. That is a rough way to go out. And the lesson here is: Don't let Cardenas proclaim you to be the best at something. Cuz within a matter of hours you will be screwed. Hahahahaha.
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Copa Libertadores

The final qualifying round.
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Feb 12
Audax Italiano v Chico (3-4)
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Arsenal, Lanus, Atlas, Cruziero & Cienciano have advanced to the group stage, which begins as early as next week for some groups. One spot is left and it will be filled next Thursday the 12th. That same day a couple of Group Stage games will also kick off the tournament officially.
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South American News

The Argentine league kicked off the Spring season this weekend. Defending champs Lanus won, perennial favorites River Plate won as well, and the champs from last spring Estudiantes beat Banfield 2-0, but many times champs Boca Juniors were held 1-1 by Rosario Central.
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One of du Nord's favorite young players is Andres D'Alessandro, who left Real Zaragosa in Spain during the January transfer window to sign with San Lorenzo in his native Argentina. He would have been a fantastic MLS pick up.
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Big Euro Matches This Weekend

Scores & Matches:
Sevilla 1-1 Barcelona - 1 point does neither team any good, especially when league leaders Madrid win 7-0.
PSV Eindhoven 1-1 Heerenveen - left PSV with a safe 9 point lead over Heerenveen.
Manchester United 1-2 Manchester City - on a day of commemoration for tragic deaths at Man Utd 50 years ago, the home team succumbed to their cross town rivals for the first time since 1974 at Old Trafford, and fell behind league leaders Arsenal. This win ended Man City's bad slide.
Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool - no score and no advancement for either side.
Bayern Munich 1-1 Werder Bremen - Bayern did what they had to do to keep their lead at the top.
Borussia Dortmund 2-3 Schalke - the win moves Schalke back to within 2 points of second place. And there are few things better than winning the Ruhr derby, especially on the road.
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European News

Phil Ball of Soccernet tells all about Real Madrid's demolition of Valladolid - a 7-0 victory!
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From the Guardian:
-David James tells why he digs about Fabio Capello. We here at du Nord just want to say that we always love the articles from the England & Portsmouth keeper.
-Sid Lowe & all of La Liga sees (finally) why Real Madrid paid a stupid fortune for Arjen Robben.
-Raphael Honigstein wonders if Luca Toni is making enemies at Bayern.
-Paolo Bandini on that 18 year old kid who won the game for Milan. Wha? It's not The Duck? Then who?
-All of Manchester shares a moment of silence. The n City gets to enjoy the rest of the day.
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I loved the look of the Manchester derby. Both teams wearing really old shirts, and all the fans with those really old scarves. Very cool.
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Another du Nord fave football player is Moritz Volz of Fulham, and for the Times he takes us behind the scenes in footballing media land.
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The Times tells us about these Rich-Bitch Fat-Cats who own Queens Park Rangers, and how much of their bounty they are willing to spend.
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The 100th episode of the EPL Talk podcast is up, and it's a special one. "The Best of". Highlights from the first 99 interviews. Download or listen now. Congrats to the Gaffer on the century mark.
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Football Italia with the high & low lights of Week 22 in Serie A.
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For the 3rd league match in a row, leaders Inter Milan have scored a late, decisive, and highly controversial goal to at least win or draw. Are they being investigated for shady dealings now? What would the press be saying if this was Juve snagging points in this fashion?
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US Soccer President Sunil Gulati says that unless FIFA bless the idea of the Premiership playing games on foreign soil, then the federation will not allow it in America.
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Elderly Italian Giovanni Trapattoni will be named the next coach of Ireland. He has a pretty damn good pedigree.
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with England midfielder Owen Hargreaves about their new coach Fabio Capello. Whenever I read or hear Owen Hargreaves name I always think of the old lady in Throw Mama From The Train barking out that name in an incredibly low guttural voice "OWEN"! Pure genius.
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Simon Kuper of the Financial Times talks to former England players and coach Glenn Hoddle who is working on starting a youth academy in Spain.
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Real Madrid forward Robinho tore a stomach muscle and could be out for quite a while.
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The UEFA Cup resumes later this week. Stay tuned for match ups.
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World News

Iran has hired former Serbia coach Javier Clemente of Spain to take over their team.
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African Cup of Nations

Final Matches & Score:
-Sun Feb 10
Cameroon 0-1 Egypt - goal by Mohamed Abotreika!
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The best part was that this was not played like your usual championship match. No one sat back, no one was conservative. Both teams went at it with end to end burners. Great stuff, and a deserving champion.
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Paul Doyle of the Guardian raves about the Pharaohs!
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Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated gives the final match a big OH!
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And Lalas writing for the New York Times Goal blog says Egypt now has to do this at the World Cup level to prove their true quality.
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Several stories from FIFA.com:
-The Pharaohs are kings again
-Aboutreika, Egypt's crown prince
-Zidan revels in right decision
-Ecstatic fans welcome home Pharaohs
-Who was Ghana 2008's top man?
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Reuters says the tournament wasn't run nearly as well as the play on the field. Is this a precursor to South Africa?
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Jonathan Wilson of the Independent calls the performance on the field a big success.
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Here are the award winners from the tournament:
-Player Of The Tournament:
Hosny Abd Rabou - Egypt
-Best Young Player:
Alexander Song - Cameroon
-High Goal Scorer:
Samuel Eto’o - 5 goals - Cameroon
-Best XI:
G:
Essam El-Hadary - Egypt
D:
Geremi - Cameroon
Wael Gomaa - Egypt
Michael Essien - Ghana
M:
Sulley Muntari - Ghana
Yaya Toure - Cote d'Ivoire
Alexandre Song - Cameroon
Hosny Abd Rabo - Egypt
Mohamed Aboutreika - Egypt
F:
Amr Zaky - Egypt
Manucho - Angola
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How was Samuel Eto'o and his 5 goals not on that list?
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Speaking of Eto'o, his club team Barcelona must have let out a giant groan when he pulled up lame in the last 10 minutes of the game clutching at his hamstring.
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Other African News

Bloomberg with a very UNFLATTERING story about South Africa and their WC2010 prep. (thanks to Jesse for sending me this story)
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A player in the Gabon league collapsed on the field and died, and there were no medics on hand to help him. Damn.
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Finally

Here is proof of what is wrong with my distant cousins the English - Prince William and 47 of his closest friend went to an Indian restaurant in York, spent 1300 Pounds, and didn't leave a tip! A fine fare thee well? Doth though not haveth enough pocket scratch? In America we just tag on an extra 15% for all parties over 6. Better safe than royally stiffed.

Welcome To Gorgor's, May I Take Your Order News

I warned people not to get to uppity about the new USA shirts until we actually saw them on the field in action. So now that they have debuted, what do people think? I liked them. But then I liked the shiny blue with white pinstripes last year as well. I also liked the red "Don't Tread On Me shirts" too.

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The African football federation has admitted that, yes, they did not give Didier Drogba the continents Player of the Year award because he chose not to attend the ceremony. Instead he chose to stay with his team and prepare for the African Cup of Nations quarterfinals. As he should. What an embarrassment this all is. Are these people who run African football for real? They should all resign in shame.


MLS News

It's now official - Colorado introduces their new #10, Christian Gomez.
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Steve Davis at MLSnet gives us the 5 most important stories of the week.
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You ever wondered what all 6 LA Galaxy jerseys from throughout the 12 years of the team look like side-by-side? Cool.
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New England will open their season at home for the first time EVER. I hope it snows/sleets and is 34 degrees with howling winds! Not for the fans, but for the thick-heads who think MLS play through the winter months.
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The Boston Herald at the opening of New England preseason prep.
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Adam Smartschan of the Cape Cod Times checks in on the early days of New England training camp.
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Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star talks to TFC captain Jim Brennan about the new coach.
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Larry Millson of the Toronto Globe & Mail talks to TFC goalkeeper Greg Sutton about the serious concussions he has suffered and that kept him out of almost all of last season. Is he healthy?
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Bob Hunter of the Columbus Dispatch reports that the Crew have 3 Brazilians and a Nigerian joining them for preseason tryouts. They are, from Brazil: defensive midfielder Sandro Jose, midfielder Alvaro & forward Guilherme. And from Nigeria, midfielder Emanuel Ekpu.
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Chicago will launch a year long 10th anniversary celebration. At some point they will announce their Team of the Decade. Many more details to follow. Here is the celebration logo.
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Andrea Canales of the US Players Assoc looks at some reasons American players from MLS are becoming a hotter commodity in the transfer market.
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Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated says MLS has missed the African boat.
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MLS Preseason Official Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Feb 8
Ventura County Fusion v Salt Lake - at Buena High in Ventura
-Sat Feb 9
Kansas City v Columbus - in Bradenton FL
Dallas v Centro America at Pizza Hut Park
Chicago v USA U17 - in Bradenton FL
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MLS Rumor City

Class VI report that Juergen Sommer will be named the Colorado Rapids Technical Director today. Great move. Former goalkeeper in MLS, overseas and with the USA.
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Dallas left back Chris Gbandi was officially transferred to Haugesund in Norway today.
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And Denilson has not re-signed with Dallas so he can go home to Brazil and play for Palmeira's.
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US Soccer News

Richard Snowden of Soccer365 talks about that distinct technical-ability edge that we still see Mexico holding over our USA boys. Unfortunately it is still pretty evident and could be the one thing that takes the longest to overcome.
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Ian Plenderleith of the US Soccer Players Assoc wonders about the left back position for Team USA.
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Ives Galarcep at Soccernet gives us 5 things we learned from USA v Mexico.
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Mike Woitalla of Soccer America looks at the interesting (and possibly shifting) make-up of soccer fans in America.
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Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle wonders if the success at the turnstiles of the USA-Mexico game will help the city secure a World Cup qualifying match. To which I say: Sure it will, if Mexico wants to play a home game there.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer went to Dominica to cover the WC qualifier v Barbados. The winner will meet our USA in the next round. Here are some of Lewis's thoughts on the trip and teams. As usual he whines a little too much about things not being perfect.
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CONCACAF News

Jonathan de Guzman of Feyenoord has decided to play for Holland instead of his native Canada, at the international level.
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Copa Libertadores

The final qualifying round.
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Feb 7
Chico 4-3 Audax Italiano

2nd leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Feb 5
Mineros 2-1 Arsenal - Arsenal adv 3-2 on agg.
Lanus 3-0 Olmedo - Lanus adv 3-1 on aggregate.
-Wed Feb 6
La Paz 1-0 Atlas -Atlas adv 2-1 on agg.
Cerro Porteno 2-3 Cruzeiro - Cruzeiro adv 6-3 on agg.
-Thu Feb 7
Montevideo Wanderers 0-0 Cienciano - Cienciano adv. on a 1-0 agg score.
-Tue Feb 12
Audax Italiano v Chico (3-4)
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Arsenal, Lanus, Atlas, Cruziero & Cienciano have advanced to the group stage, which begins as early as next week for some groups. One spot is left and it will be filled next Thursday the 12th. That same day a couple of Group Stage games will also kick off the tournament officially.
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American's In Europe

The Fulham team website has a Q & A with Brian McBride. They talks about his injury & recovery, the new manager, his future with the club, etc etc Good stuff. (thanks to BQ for this one)
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Ravi Ubha of Soccernet talks to Tim Howard about things at his club Everton.
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Steven Goff on his Soccer Insider blog says that Jonathan Spector was not called in for the Mexico game so that West Ham will let him play for the USA in Olympic qualifying in March. (thanks to all the readers who tipped me off to this)
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Big Euro Matches This Weekend

Scores & Matches:
-Sat Feb 9
Sevilla v Barcelona - Sevilla desperately need to get back in contention, while Barca need to keep the pressure on Real Madrid at the top.
PSV Eindhoven v Heerenveen - #1 v #3, and both teams are red hot
-Sun Feb 10
Manchester United v Manchester City - the good old Madchester derby.
Chelsea v Liverpool - with a win Chelsea can just about put the Liverpeople out of their misery for this season.
Bayern Munich v Werder Bremen - #1 v #2 in die Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke - the always powerful Ruhr derby!
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European News

I have been reading all these "the sky is falling" type stories surrounding the Premierships proposed plan to play league games in other countries around the world. Most of them center around phrases like "it destroyed the founding principles, the traditions and the roots of the game." What a bunch of crap. That stuff went out the window in 1995 when the Premier League was created. Please!
-The Reuters Soccer Blog seems to have it just about right, in my opinion.
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Jason Burt of the Independent talks to several England star players about their first impressions of playing for new coach Fabio Capello.
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The Telegraph talks to England keeper David James who says Don Fabio revealed the starters to his team in an oddly tense game show style just 2 hours before game time. Hilarious!
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Jonah Freedman of Sports Illustrated with the newest World Club Power Rankings. Only slight changes near the top.
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African Cup of Nations

Final Matches & Score:
-Sun Feb 10
Cameroon v Egypt
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All the pundits wanted to see Ghana v Ivory Coast in the Final. What they really wanted was to see 2 big time players from the Premiership battle it out. They wanted Drogba v Essien. It was all too predictable. They wanted to see what they knew. They don't know Egypt at all. They don't know Cameroon outside of Samuel Eto'o at all. And now we have the two best teams standing toe to toe at the end. And guess what? They came out of the same group. They actually played each other in the first group stage match. And Egypt wiped them out 4-2. So you know Cameroon wants to show that was an aberration. And Egypt wants to show that they can win it outside their home country. Egypt are the defending champs you know. I bet you didn't know that. So here we go. See ya Sunday.
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And amid all the talk of Chelsea players facing off for the title, it's almost comical that they are all headed back to their clubs instead.
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Kickoff magazine says that Ghana blame the referee for their loss. That is a sad way to go out.
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Kickoff was very impressed with Egypt's big win.
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Cameroon defender Andre Bikey will miss the final due to a Red Card suspension in the semifinal.
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Paul Doyle of the Guardian gives us a look at Cameroon v Egypt.
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Reuters gives us a little deeper look at the two finalists - Cameroon - and - Egypt.
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World Soccer has a Q & A with Ivory Coast and Arsenal defender Kolo Toure. Via Sports Illustrated.
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Duleep Allirajah of Spiked online magazine tells us the story of how he found himself watching the ACN, and loving it. (thanks to Dannah for this one)
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Brian Oliver of the Guardian wonders what condition players will be in when they return to their clubs.
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Greg Lalas on the New York Times Goal blog says almost all the mystery is gone about players from Africa these days. They are well known, respected, and big bucks are spent on them.