Calm Down Dork News

For the 2nd season running I have been asked by George Tanner of the Rocky Mountain News blog FC Rocky to make my MLS season predictions. I join with fellow geniuses in make believe. I am honored to contribute, read em and weep.

~and~

Elisabeth Loisel, coach of Chinese women's team, was fired via E-mail! Cold.


Team USA

-Wed Mar 26
Polska 0-3 USA - USA goals by Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu & Eddie Lewis.
Match report from US Soccer
Match report by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Match report from American Soccer Daily.
Post game analysis and player ratings by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Player ratings by Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America.
Quotes by coach and players from US Soccer.
Game photos from US Soccer.
Behind the scenes video from US Soccer.
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du Nord Three Stars of the Match:
3 Ricardo Clark & Michael Bradley - seriously stuffed and dismantled the Polish attack. It's never pretty when they are effective, but Poland had no chance to get into any rhythm with the ball. Impressive defensively.
2 Carlos Bocanegra - captained the team well, played centerback with a lot of poise and helped cover others mistakes (both Onyewu & Pearce got caught), not to mention scoring the game winning goal.
1 Landon Donovan - deadly accurate on his free and corner kicks like we have rarely seen from him (is he taking lessons from DB?), set up the first two goals and was all over the field trying to add more to it. Would have been a perfect game if his shot on a break away had been 1 foot to the left.
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Team USA official blog.
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Now that we have seen the light black uniforms on the field, what do you think? I like them.
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MLS First Kick

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 29
Columbus v Toronto - 3pm central on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v Chicago - 5pm central on Direct Kick
New England v Houston - 6:30pm central on FSC
Kansas City v DC - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Colorado v Los Angeles - 8:30pm central on FSC
-Sun Apr 30
Dallas v Chivas USA - 2pm central on TeleFutura
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave on his Red Card blog has the latest on defender Wilman Conde who demanded to be shipped to New York. It's getting bad in the locker room.
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COLORADO RAPIDS

Brian Forbes of the Denver Post with an article on coach Fernando Clavijo who is in a serious battle to keep his job this season. Hey, all he has to do is win and the job is his. Simple.
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COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch says the Crew are getting ready for over 2000 Toronto fans to descend on their stadium Saturday. I love it.
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Mitchell on the Covering the Crew blog has a few words with defender Chad Marshall, who needs to have a big season.
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FC DALLAS

Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News reports that Duilio Davino is training with the team again after a knee thingy.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle suggests that the Dynamo might be moving into the Designated Player market. Awesome. Now take a big ol' chunk of that AEG cashola and go get yer hands on a big Big BIG name like Henry or Ronaldinho. They will sell massive amounts of tickets and orange shirts.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Bob Luder of the Kansas City Star on the Wizards Argentine contingent. Does every MLS team have one now - a contingent?
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Brad Feldman and Rev's radio show In The Net are back for another season. Get the podcast of yesterdays show here.
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REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News visits the Salt Lake stadium construction site, and gets some words from owner Dave Checketts on where the team has been and where it is going.
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TORONTO FC

The Toronto Sun wonders how TFC fans will respond to another poor season on the field.
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MLS Season Previews

While too many other publications are giving us the obvious names to watch for this season, Pat Walsh at Goal.com gives us his little-knowns to watch out for. Excellent! Any putz can pick Blanco, Angel and Christian Gomez.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports with 3 more team season previews, Houston Dynamo - and - San Jose Earthquakes - and - Los Angeles Galaxy.
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Jeffrey Marcus of the New York Times looks at the Latin American player influx.
-Marcus lists his "Players to watch" this season.
-The Times also has an audio report where players in the league talk about their favorites.
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American Soccer Daily with a Western Conference preview.
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Andrea Canales of Soccernet with a Kansas City season preview.
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Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner with his season preview.
-And some more previewish notes on his blog The Pitch.
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The Ogden (Utah) Standard Examiner with their list of top things to watch for in the league this season.
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MLS Stadium Talk

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News with the latest on the sale of naming rights for the new Salt Lake stadium.
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MLS Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Mar 28
Portland (USL1D) v San Jose in Portland, OR at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex
Carolina (USL1D) v New York in Cary, NC at the Wake Med Soccer Park
-Tue Apr 8
San Luis (FMF) v Chicago in Mexcali, Mexico at Estadio Casas GEO
-Tue May 13
Vancouver (USL1D) v Los Angeles in Edmonton, Alberta at Commonwealth Stadium
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San Jose & New York are playing exhibition games on Friday because they don't have an opening weekend game. I guess they couldn't figure out a way to play each other. Lame.
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USL First Division & PDL News

FC Dallas Updates is reporting that backup keeper Ray Burse is being pursued by Portland on a loan deal. The Timbers just lost their keeper Josh Wicks to LA. As an opponent of Portland, I do not want to see Ray Burse in their shirt. I think Scott Garlick & Ronald Wattereus are available.
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CONCACAF News

The top 3 Canadian club teams, Montreal, Toronto & Vancouver, have set up a home-and-away round-robin tournament to decide who will be their countries 1 representative in the new CONCACAF Champions League that starts next fall.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

Barbados defeated Dominica 1-0 last night and will advance 2-1 on aggregate.
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Match reports from their two daily papers - The Advocate - and - Nation News.
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One-off Qualifier Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Grenada 10-0 US Virgin Islands - Gren advance.
Montserrat 1-7 Surinam - Sur advance.
Puerto Rico 1-0 Dominican Republic - game ended 0-0, and PR won 1-0 in Extra Time to advance.
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2nd leg Qualifier Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Wed Mar 26
Netherlands Antilles 2-0 Nicaragua - NA adv 3-0 on agg.
Anguilla 0-4 El Salvador - El S adv 16-0 on agg.
St Kitts & Nevis 1-1 Belize - Beli adv 4-2 on agg.
Bahamas 1-1 British Virgin Islands (1st leg)
Barbados 1-0 Dominica - Barb adv 2-1 on agg.
St Lucia 2-0 Turks & Caicos Islands - St L adv 3-2 on agg.
Antigua & Barbuda 1-0 Aruba - A & B adv 4-0 on agg.
-Mar 30
British Virgin Islands v Bahamas (1-1)
Cayman Islands v Bermuda (1-1)
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post with a match report on Anguilla v El Salvador at RFK in DC.
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Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Poland 0-3 USA in Krakow
Mexico 2-1 Ghana in London
Jamaica 2-2 Trinidad & Tobago
Peru 3-1 Costa Rica
Estonia 2-0 Canada in Tallinn
Colombia 1-2 Honduras in Fort Lauderdale FL
Ecuador 3-1 Haiti
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CONCACAF Champions Cup

CONCACAF has handed Saprissa a token $15,000 fine and a stern warning after fans pelted the field with debris injuring an Atlante player in the first round series. Details included.
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Mexico & FMF News

Only 3 more days until the Mexican federation honchos meet and decide the near future fate of coach Hugo Sanchez.
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Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Mar 25
Coronel Bolognesi 0-0 Cienciano
Maracaibo 1-1 Atlas - Mar goal by Dario Figueroa(PK). Atl goal by Bruno Marioni
San Lorenzo 1-0 Bamin Real Potosi - SL goal by Adrian Gonzalez
-Mar 26
Liga Dep Univ Quito 6-1 Arsenal - LDUQ goals by Patricio Urrutia, Damian Manso, Luis Bolanos (2), Claudio Bieler & Alfonso Obregon. Ars goal by Luciano Leguizamon.
River Plate 2-0 Universidad Catolica - RP goals by Radamel Falcao Garcia & Sebastian Abreu.
Dep Univ San Martin 1-0 America - DUSM goal by Mario Leguizamon.
-Mar 27
Cucuta Deportivo v Chivas Guadalajara
Boca Juniors v Colo Colo
Danubio v Deportivo Cuenca
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Group Stage Standings
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Last night LDU Quito of Ecuador became the first team to advance to the knock out rounds. 2 teams from each of the 8 groups advance, and with 4 of 6 rounds played their 10 points in the cannot be surpassed by the teams in 3rd or 4th place.
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European News

Robert Pires got a one year contract extension from Villarreal.
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Turkey & Bayern Munich have lost important midfielder Hamit Altintop for most likely 2 months after he broke his foot in his countries match v Belarus yesterday.
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The Italian press is starting to ask for Giuseppe Rossi in the nations senior team lineup.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune writes about another of the du Nord fave players Michael Ballack, and even though MB was injured through most of the first half of the season, it didn't keep him from doing some great stuff for other people who really need help.
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The Reuters Soccer Blog asks the same question that is bouncing around in my head - What is going on with Inter Milan?
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UEFA Champions League

Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Andorra 0-3 Latvia
Armenia 1-0 Kazakhstan
Austria 3-4 Netherlands
Belarus 2-1 Turkey
Belgium 1-4 Morocco
Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-2 Macedonia
Bulgaria 2-1 Finland
Denmark 1-1 Czech Republic
Estonia 2-0 Canada
France 1-0 England
Hungary 0-1 Slovenia
Israel 1-0 Chile
Lithuania 1-0 Azerbaijan
Luxembourg 0-2 Wales
Malta 7-1 Liechtenstein
Montenegro 3-1 Norway
N Ireland 4-1 Georgia
Poland 0-3 USA
Portugal 1-2 Greece
Romania 3-0 Russia
Scotland 1-1 Croatia
Slovakia 1-2 Iceland
Spain 1-0 Italy
Sweden 0-1 Brazil
Switzerland 0-4 Germany
Ukraine 2-0 Serbia
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La Gazzetta says that even though Italy lost in Spain coach Donadoni is not phased by it and the prep continues for the summer tourney.
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Barney Ronay of the Guardian says that while England played by all of Don Capello's rules, they still weren't very good.
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James Lawton of the Independent says it was not pretty for Capello & England.
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Asian World Cup Qualifying

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Singapore 2-0 Lebanon
N Korea 0-0 S Korea in Shanghai China
Thailand 0-1 Oman
China 0-0 Australia
Turkmenistan 0-2 Jordan
Uzbekistan 3-0 Saudi Arabia
Bahrain 1-0 Japan
Syria 1-1 United Arab Emirates
Kuwait 2-2 Iran
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Group Standings

USA To Face Barbados In First Qualifiers

Barbados scored a very late goal to beat Dominica 1-0, and advance 2-1 on aggregate.

Their reward is to play the USA in a home and away series in the next round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying.

The 1st leg will be played on Sunday June 15 in the United States at the Home Depot Center in suburban LA.

The 2nd leg will take place within the week after that in Barbados. (I have seen the date Wednesday June 18th bandied about.)

By the way, can anyone tell me why the USA would have to play any possible extra time period on the road after the second leg in the case of a tie???

The Kissing Bandit Came Back For It News

Does MLS want to make a real splash?? There are two world class players out there, who might be slightly past their prime, but still amazing and are stuck in bad situations right now. Actually both are at Barcelona. Henry & Ronaldinho. Yes it will cost a lot of money. A LOT OF MONEY. But as the league saw with Brockelman, they will make it back quickly. These two have charm and flash. They will sell a ton of tickets and another ton of shirts! Go for it! Come on! I dare ya! We know you have the money.

~and~

Some Denver media continues to prove that it is Moronville for soccer. What, no giant John Elway teeth to cover? Today at the Denver Post there is a headline: "Rapids wrapping up preseason". Ok, I want to see what they have to say. Guess what? Three sentences! Yes that's right, 3! Wow, that's insulting.

~and~

Great Team USA fact from US Soccer: "Since last year and prior to the USA’s first World Cup qualifier this summer (June 15), the U.S. will have faced four teams ranked in the top 10 in the world: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Spain. All together, the team will have played 23 games, competed in two major international tournaments, captured the Gold Cup title, and traveled to seven different countries. Not bad for World Cup qualifying preparation."


Team USA

-Wed Mar 26
Polska v USA - International friendly from Krakow, live at 2:30pm central time on Fox Soccer Channel.
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Team USA official blog.
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AP with a story on Michael Bradley.
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American Soccer Daily talks to Jay DeMerit who is all ready to go for the match today.
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Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America gives his well thought out reasons why he would have left Landon Donovan off the USA roster for this game. via Sports Illustrated.
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The last training photos before the game from US Soccer.
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Video from that same training session also from US Soccer.
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A lot of talk today seems to be about the new USA light black shirts. I have not had anyone tell me they like it. I am indifferent. But sorta leaning toward like. And I always have to wait until I see them on the field.
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Jack Bell of the New York Times Goal blog wonders what the deal is with Nike and the USA colors.
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Over at Big Soccer the argument is mixed, but I would say that it tilts slightly toward positive. One poster, Sitruc, said it all though - "I'm sure some of the people who say they don't like it would buy it if it had a Brazil badge and not a US badge."
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MLS First Kick

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 29
Columbus v Toronto - 3pm central on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v Chicago - 5pm central on Direct Kick
New England v Houston - 6:30pm central on FSC
Kansas City v DC - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Colorado v Los Angeles - 8:30pm central on FSC
-Sun Apr 30
Dallas v Chivas USA - 2pm central on TeleFutura
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MLS News

GENERAL

Jeff Bradley at MLSnet looks back at MLS Cup rematches of the past, seeing as we have one on opening day. First XI: Revenge Seekers.
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CHICAGO FIRE

American Soccer News was on hand at the annual Fire preseason luncheon and talked to some coaches and players - here are some bits of info.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports wonders if Cuauhtemoc Blanco can do it again, or maybe even better, for the Fire this season. This is one of the leagues great questions.
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COLORADO RAPIDS

Rapids Class VI blog No Fan Alone has VI Questions for Coach Clavijo.
-The Rapids have a ton of injuries to start the season, read about them in the Q & A.
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Class VI also reports that after less than 2 months on the job Juergen Sommer has left the Director of Soccer position at the Rapids. However, Sommer is still listed on the official team staff list.
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COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch with some info from the Crew's media day on his Covering the Crew blog.
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Rogers of Yahoo also writes about Columbus's top draft pick, English centerback Andy Iro.
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DC UNITED

Dan Steinberg of the almighty Sports Bog tells us who is living in Ben Olsen's basement.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post looks at DC's big road trip, to KC to open the season, and then to Cancun to take on Atlante in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with a look ahead to the Dynamo's season opener in New England. Then like DC they go right back to Champions Cup action, at home v Saprissa of Costa Rica!
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star looks at the river of players flowing from South America to MLS these days.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

The Offside Rules with a link to a great ESPN video interview with Taylor Twellman. He get's asked about every thing that he and his team have failed to do over the past batch of years. Oof.
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John Connolly of the Boston Herald on Taylor Twellman and his New England teammates as they get ready for 08.
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Adam Smartschan of the Cape Cod Times with an article on New England's brand new left midfielder Mauricio Castro who will get the start in game 1 due to Khano Smith being with his Bermuda national team for World Cup qualifying. Castro last played for Hispano in his native Honduras.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

The Red Bulls have finally signed forward Oscar Echeverry the forward from Atletico Nacional in his native Colombia.
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MetroFanatic has some great stuff for us from NYRB media day - interviews with 13 players and 1 team exec. Excellent.
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer tells us that fullback Hunter Freeman will be out 4-6 weeks with an ankle injury he suffered in Olympic qualifying.
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Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer gives his words and images from NYRB media day.
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Goal.com gives us a recap of the New York media day event.
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Lewis also gets a few words from NYRB coach Juan Carlos Osorio.
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The official Red Bulls Reader blog has video interviews with fullback Hunter Freeman, and rookie David Roth.
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Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger with an article on NYRB coach Juan Carlos Osorio.
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REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News on the return of players Robbie Findley, Chris Seitz & Nathan Sturgis from the USA Olympic team. It's not too bad when you have these young guys on your depth chart.
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TORONTO FC

Stephen Brunt of the Toronto Globe & Mail wonders if fans will grow impatient quickly with their still fairly miserable looking team.
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The Toronto Sun talks to TFC coach John Carver about long term goals.
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MLS Season Previews

Mark Zeilger of the San Diego Union Tribune gives us his view of the league over-all as year 13 begins.
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Mike Biglin of the MetroWest Daily News previews the season of the New England Revolution.
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Reuters says the this MLS season is starting without all the Brockelmania.
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MLS Stadium Talk

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to Red Bull pres Marc de Grandpre about work on Red Bull Park.
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The Washington Times says DC United might not be able to wait much longer for the city to decide what they want to do with a stadium proposal. Suburbs here they come?
-More on the frustration from the Wash Times $ports Biz Blog.
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MLS Expansion News

The Toronto Sun says USL1D team Montreal Impact are getting serious about joining MLS. And they are looking to get Liverpool owner George Gillet on board with them.
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The Seattle Post Intelligencer with a story on the naming of the new team. The choices are bad. Not stupid bad, but lame bad. Seattle Alliance. Seattle FC. Seattle Republic. If that is all you get to chose from then you have to pick FC cuz its the least lame.
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MLS Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Mar 28
Portland (USL1) v San Jose in Portland OR at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex
-Tue Apr 8
San Luis (FMF) v Chicago in Mexcali, Mexico at Estadio Casas GEO
-Tue May 13
Vancouver (USL1) v Los Angeles in Edmonton, Alberta at Commonwealth Stadium
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San Jose is playing this game on Friday because they don't have an opening weekend game. Neither does New York. I guess they couldn't figure out a way to play each other. Whatever.
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Former MLS Player News

Liberian fullback Willis Forko formerly of Real Salt Lake has signed with Bodo Glimt in Norway.
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USL First Division & PDL News

Jen Chang of Soccernet gives us his full recap of spending several days in training camp with Charleston - on the field, doing what they do.
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Oh, before I forget to mention this, Charleston goalkeeper Dusty Hudock is pretty much a complete tool.
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USA Olympic Team

It looks like the team will be playing in a tournament in France at the end of May.
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Yanks Abroad reviews the qualifying trip for our team and CONCACAF.
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Americans In Europe

The Glasgow Herald with an update on DaMarcus Beasley's recovery from knee surgery. He is doing well!
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Soccer365 with an article quoting Michael Bradley in Dutch magazine Ajax Life, saying he wants a transfer out of Heerenveen & Holland this summer because the style of play does not suit him.
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CONCACAF News

The Toronto Sun with info on the new man in charge of the Canadian Soccer Association. This guy has a big job to do, and will be under a microscope. Not the best formula.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

One-off Qualifier Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Grenada v US Virgin Islands
Montserrat v Surinam
Puerto Rico v Dominican Republic
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2nd leg Qualifier Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Wed Mar 26
Netherlands Antilles v Nicaragua (1-0)
Anguilla v El Salvador (0-12) in Washington DC
St Kitts & Nevis v Belize (1-3)
Bahamas v British Virgin Islands (1st leg)
Barbados v Dominica (1-1)
St Lucia v Turks & Caicos Islands (1-2)
Antigua & Barbuda v Aruba (3-0)
-Mar 30
British Virgin Islands v Bahamas (-)
Cayman Islands v Bermuda (1-1)
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Some time tonight the USA will know their first qualifying opponent - either Barbados or Dominica.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post explains why Anguilla has to host their "home" game in the USA.
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FIFA.com gives us a look at the team from the British Virgin Islands.
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Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Sun Mar 23
Venezuela v El Salvador
-Wed Mar 26
Poland v USA in Krakow
Mexico v Gambia in London
Jamaica v Trinidad & Tobago
Peru v Costa Rica
Estonia v Canada in Tallinn
Colombia v Honduras in Fort Lauderdale FL
Ecuador v Haiti
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South American News

Gregory Sica of Sports Illustrated enlightens us cretins to the glory & might of Chile's Colo-Colo.
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Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro celebrated their 100th anniversary today.
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Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Mar 25
Coronel Bolognesi 0-0 Cienciano
Maracaibo 1-1 Atlas - Mar goal by Dario Figueroa(PK). Atl goal by Bruno Marioni
San Lorenzo 1-0 Bamin Real Potosi - SL goal by Adrian Gonzalez
-Mar 26
Liga Universitaria Quito v Arsenal
River Plate v Universidad Catolica
Dep Univ San Martin v America
-Mar 27
Cucuta Deportivo v Chivas Guadalajara
Boca Juniors v Colo Colo
Danubio v Deportivo Cuenca
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Group Stage Standings
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European News

The Earth Times on the Barcelona-Ronaldinho soap opera.
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La Gazzetta dello Sport talks to Italian centerback Fab Cannavaro who says the team are focused on playing Spain, not their coaches lack of a contract extension.
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UEFA Champions League

Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Andorra v Latvia
Armenia v Kazakhstan
Austria v Netherlands
Belarus v Turkey
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Macedonia
Bulgaria v Finland
Denmark v Czech Republic
Estonia v Canada
France v England
Hungary v Slovenia
Israel v Chile
Lithuania v Azerbaijan
Luxembourg v Wales
Malta v Liechtenstein
Montenegro v Norway
Northern Ireland v Georgia
Poland v USA
Portugal v Greece
Romania v Russia
Scotland v Croatia
Slovakia v Iceland
Spain v Italy
Sweden v Brazil
Switzerland v Germany
Ukraine v Serbia
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2008 UEFA European Championship

FIFA.com has Q & A's with the coaches of the 2 host countries - Josef Hickersberger of Austria - and - Kobi Kuhn of Switzerland.
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World News

Ravi Ubha of the Seattle Post Intelligencer with his high quality weekly world soccer news recap - the Beautiful Game.
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Asian World Cup Qualifying

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Singapore 2-0 Lebanon
N Korea 0-0 S Korea in Shanghai China
Thailand 0-1 Oman
China 0-0 Australia
Turkmenistan 0-2 Jordan
Uzbekistan 3-0 Saudi Arabia
Bahrain v Japan
Syria v United Arab Emirates
Kuwait v Iran
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FIFA.com has a Q & A with Australia's coach Pim Verbeek.
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The Guardian with a great article on the national teams of Iran & Iraq.

It's What I Want News

I am very excited to report that for the 6th consecutive year I will be heading to Kansas City this weekend for their season opener!! Can't wait to see all of you who I know from the past, and meet many new people!

~and~

The new USA second shirt has been introduced. I assume they will wear it tomorrow in Poland. But what do you call that color? Officially it's known as Anthracite. I'm gonna go with Light Black

~and~

USA & Charlton defender Cory Gibbs describes the insane series of injuries that have kept him off the field since late May 06: "It started with the knee injury that kept me out of the 2006 World Cup. I came back in November, and in my first reserve game with Charlton I did the same knee again. That kept me out the rest of the season. I came back fit for the preseason in the summer of 2007, but in the second training game I did the MCL in the other knee, which set me back another eight weeks. I returned to training in mid-October, and just before I was ready to join the first team I got hurt in a reserve game. I got stomped on by my own player, and broke three metatarsals in my left foot! That injury cost me another three months." See the whole Q & A below in the Team USA section.

~and~

USA coach Bob Bradley talking about midfielder Benny Fielhaber, in an article by Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet: "He has to grow up. He has to mature as a player. He has to understand, day in and day out, how to earn the respect of the people he plays with." But then why did Bradley bring him in to the team for the match in Poland? I don't get it. See Team USA section for the full story.

Word is out that MLS is changing the playoff format AGAIN! Last year the top 2 teams in the East & West got in, then the next 4 best. This year the top 3 from East & West and the next 2 will get in. Is this a big deal?


MLS First Kick
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 29
Columbus v Toronto - 3pm central on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v Chicago - 5pm central on Direct Kick
New England v Houston - 6:30pm central on FSC
Kansas City v DC - 7pm central on Direct Kick
Colorado v Los Angeles - 8:30pm central on FSC
-Sun Apr 30
Dallas v Chivas USA - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

GENERAL

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his Soccer Insider blog with some very important words from Commish Donny G regarding future expansion after Philly. Great stuff.
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Beau Dure of USA Today has a great blog post this morning with a link to a video interview on Fox with MLS Chief-Daddy-Oh Donald Garber, and DC United's Captain Caveman Ben Olsen! Nothing new on the info side, but still cool to watch nonetheless. (thanks for finding this Beau)
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The CBC with an article on the continued influx of South Americans to MLS,
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Ives Galarcep at the Herald News looks into his crystal ball for a vision of MLS's near future.
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Andrew Dixon at the US National Soccer Players Assoc with his prediction of the top stories in the 2008 season.
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NEW ENGLAND

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe writes about New England midfielder Shalrie Joseph who pulls double duty this week as he plays for his native Grenada on Wednesday night in World Cup qualifying, then leads the Rev's in a MLS Cup rematch against Houston on Saturday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And Dell'apa reports that both of New England's starting outside midfielders will be missing on Saturday. Khano Smith also to World Cup qualifying, for Bermuda, and Wells Thompson due to injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CHIVAS USA

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports with an article on the continuing career of Chivas USA coach Preki.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES

Nick Green of the LA Daily News on the return of the prodigal fish to LA - Carlos Ruiz.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DALLAS

Rogers at Yahoo also writes about the standard of MLS play according to Dallas coach Steve Morrow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dallas forward Ricardinho has a banged up ankle, is in a walking cast, and will most likely be out for the opener.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO

The National Post in Canada looks at Toronto FC's horrible play in the Charleston Challenge Cup. Coach John Carver calls it the worst performance he has ever coached.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail On Soccer blog tells Toronto fans that the sky is not falling.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nigel Reed on the CBC Extra Time blog gives us his thoughts on Toronto in Charleston.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle gives us the Top 10 Dynamo games to date. They are being shown on local television in the build up to their first home game in Week 2.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS

Columbus has officially signed Argentine fullback Gino Padula from Montpellier in France. He now has to wait for his work visa.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Season Previews

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle says the spotlight is on MLS this weekend, and the teams must respond.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet with a preview of San Jose.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales of Soccernet with a preview of Los Angeles.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis of Soccernet with a preview of Salt Lake.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Soccer Daily with their Eastern Conference team-by-team preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News with his Eastern Conference preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram with his season preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chicago's Daily Herald with a season preview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Preseason Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Mon Mar 24
Salt Lake 3-0 Lobos in Salt Lake
-Fri Mar 28
Portland v San Jose in Portland at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Former player Shaun Goater in the Royal Gazette comments on the Bermuda v Colorado Rapids game last weekend. He liked what he say from his native team. No, he's not from the Rocky Mountain state.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumors - Don't Tease Me Bro

The Paisley Daily Express in Scotland says that New England defender Avery John has been spotted training at St Mirren, the club that signed former Rev, Andy Dorman. The article says John will be reporting to New England. Um? When?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It seems almost certain that DC will sign Brazilian striker Cezar. His full name is Cezar Hermenegildo. I would just go by the one name too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio told the media that they team will not be signing Ronald Vargas. He is too expensive.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division & PDL News

With new ownership comes immediately change, and in Rochester that means coach Laurie Calloway is OUT. The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle with the details.
-Us Minnesota fans are gonna miss the old crusty sea captain, the old barking dog. He was a fave. Let's hope we see him soon with someone else.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I don't know how many people are aware of this, but Portland goalkeeper Josh Wicks has signed with the LA Galaxy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jen Chang, soccer editor for ESPN Soccernet is in Charleston training with the Battery as if he were a players trying to make the team and give us the story as he goes along. I missed this one, but Friday had been his last day. We can expect a full recap very soon.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Montreal's preseason took a big step forward as they beat the Honduran national team 3-1 in Florida yesterday. Wow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Team USA

Team USA official blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Wed Mar 26
Poland v USA - International friendly from Krakow, live at 2:30pm central time on Fox Soccer Channel.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The blog has a Q & A with defender Cory Gibbs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Goal.com has their very own Q & A with Mr Gibbs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet says coach Bob Bradley will get a chance to see some European players that he hasn't seen in a while.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The USA trains in Poland, photos from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer also gives us an update and notes from Poland.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA Olympic Qualifying

Luis Bueno at the Press Enterprise with some USA post tournament analysis.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer with a story on "the man who discovered Jozy. (Altidore) " Josef Schulz of Boca Raton FL.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

One-off Qualifier Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Grenada v US Virgin Islands
Montserrat v Surinam
Puerto Rico v Dominican Republic
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2nd leg Qualifier Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Wed Mar 26
Netherlands Antilles v Nicaragua (1-0)
Anguilla v El Salvador (0-12) in Washington DC
St Kitts & Nevis v Belize (1-3)
Bahamas v British Virgin Islands (1st leg)
Barbados v Dominica (1-1)
St Lucia v Turks & Caicos Islands (1-2)
Antigua & Barbuda v Aruba (3-0)
-Mar 30
British Virgin Islands v Bahamas (-)
Cayman Islands v Bermuda (1-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By tomorrow night the USA will know their first qualifying opponent -either Barbados or Dominica.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Sun Mar 23
Venezuela v El Salvador
-Wed Mar 26
Poland v USA in Krakow
Mexico v Gambia in London
Jamaica v Trinidad & Tobago
Peru v Costa Rica
Estonia v Canada in Tallinn
Colombia v Honduras in Fort Lauderdale FL
Ecuador v Haiti
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

FIFA.com previews Mexico before their match v Ghana on Wednesday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South American News

Brazilian club Atletico Mineiro celebrated their 100th anniversary today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Mar 25
Coronel Bolognesi v Cienciano
Maracaibo v Atlas
San Lorenzo v Bamin Real Potosi
-Mar 26
Liga Universitaria Quito v Arsenal
River Plate v Universidad Catolica
Dep Univ San Martin v America
-Mar 27
Cucuta Deportivo v Chivas Guadalajara
Boca Juniors v Colo Colo
Danubio v Deportivo Cuenca
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Alessandro Del Piero has now played 552 games for Juventus, tying him for the most all time with Gaetano Scirea. I think that number is fairly extraordinary.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The brilliant Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano is still insisting he has no idea why he was given a second Yellow Card on Sunday, but he has apologized to his teammates for putting them in a tough spot. As for apologizing to the referee for his obnoxious behavior, don't count on it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Lawton of the Independent says managers need to take responsibility too when their players have out of line reactions to referees.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times gives Arsenal captain William Gallas space to take you through a typical day in his football life. I wonder if he explains that hair.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Insider of Soccernet went to see the Tottenham v Portsmouth game and gives us this report. Always a good read.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports looks for David Breckman's spot in English football history.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chuck Culpepper writing for the LA Times from London also reports on Breckman's 100th game for England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Independent with Breckman's past, present and future with England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Independent also reports that Capello & Co. feel the English players are just not good enough to top the top.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times blog The Game has a Q & A with MK Dons coach Paul Ince who really wants to become coach at Inter.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Raphael Honigstein at the Guardian with last weekends Bundesliga play.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ben Lyttleton at the Guardian looks at who France will have on the field v England tomorrow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Reuters Soccer Blog wonders if anyone wants to win the Spanish title this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters reports that the President of Porto has been charged and will stand trial for bribing a referee in the 04 season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League

Friendly Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Andorra v Latvia
Armenia v Kazakhstan
Austria v Netherlands
Belarus v Turkey
Bosnia-Herzegovina v Macedonia
Bulgaria v Finland
Denmark v Czech Republic
Estonia v Canada
France v England
Hungary v Slovenia
Israel v Chile
Lithuania v Azerbaijan
Luxembourg v Wales
Malta v Liechtenstein
Montenegro v Norway
Northern Ireland v Georgia
Poland v USA
Portugal v Greece
Romania v Russia
Scotland v Croatia
Slovakia v Iceland
Spain v Italy
Sweden v Brazil
Switzerland v Germany
Ukraine v Serbia
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune reports that World Cup winning coach Carlos Alberto Parreira is finding the going tough in South Africa.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

African News

Eritrea has withdrawn from World Cup qualifying in Africa before a single game has been played.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Asian World Cup Qualifying

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Wed Mar 26
Kuwait v Iran
Singapore v Lebanon
N Korea v S Korea in Shanghai China
Thailand v Oman
Bahrain v Japan
Uzbekistan v Saudi Arabia
Syria v United Arab Emirates
China v Australia
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World Cup 2010 - South Africa News

GolTV in the USA has acquired the rights to show all the German World Cup qualifiers. Cool.

Grand & Gracious News

Michael Bradley bagged 2 more goals for Heerenveen this weekend including the game winner. Many readers have disparaged the Dutch league as lacking in quality, yet while it is not the best I don't think you can discount the amazing season Bradley is having. See match details in Americans In Europe below.

~and~

Make sure you check out the match reports for Dallas v Paranaense on Saturday. 2 Brazilian players were Red Carded in the first half for attacking the referee. Insanity. See MLS Preseason Friendlies below.

~and~

"It’s an orgy of riches." Jozy Altidore on his blog post for the New York Times Goal blog. See USA Olympic Team below.


MLS News

Sports Illustrated with a slide show of the biggest names to change teams in MLS this offseason.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune looks at Real Salt Lake's efforts to improve their defense during the offseason.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch looks the Crew's desire to get "tougher" on the field with opponents.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Firchau of Chicago's Southtown Star with an article on former Fire player turned Technical Director Frank Klopas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with a story on the Fire's really chaotic offseason.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Haydon of the Washington Times checks out the return from ankle surgery for DC's Ben Olsen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Winner at Soccer Training Info tries to find other ways that goals scored to measure the success of Lindsey Buckingham in the league. There are a lot of ways.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Season Previews

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News previews the Western Conference.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Stadium Talk

This one snuck in a couple of weeks ago and it was missed by me, but CNW is reporting that a company has officially been hired to do the actual construction work on Red Bull Park aka The Heavy Lifting. I know this doesn't seem like much, but the fact that one had not been hired yet is a bit surprising. Anyway, its moving forward right. (thanks to Gene for this one)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Preseason Friendlies

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 22
Chicago 0-1 Colorado in Jackson MS
Match report from the Jackson Clarion Ledger.
Dallas 2-1 Paranaense (Brazil) - The USA-Brazil Challenge at PHP - Dallas wins 4-1 on aggregate.
Match report by Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Match report by Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News.
Match report from 3rd Degree.
Kansas City 1-0 Salt Lake in Norman OK at the Saturn Challenge Cup
Match report from the Norman Transcript.
Match report from the Oklahoman.
Match report from the Deseret Morning News.
Columbus v Isidro Metapan (El Salvador) at Crew Stadium
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Post game notes by Mitchell on his Covering The Crew blog.
Richmond (USL 2nd Div) 3-0 DC at University of Richmond Stadium
Match report from the Richmond Times Dispatch.
Chivas USA v Real Espana (Honduras) at Cal State Fullerton's Titan Stadium
Match report from the Chivas website.
-Mon Mar 24
Salt Lake v Lobos in Salt Lake
-Fri Mar 28
Portland v San Jose in Portland at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I wonder why every time I seem the name Metapan, my mind reads it as Meatpan?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Carolina Challenge Cup

Preseason Tournament March 15-22 in Charleston South Carolina
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Final Team Standings:
9 San Jose Earthquakes
4 Charleston Battery
2 New York Red Bulls
1 Toronto FC
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 15
San Jose 1-0 Toronto - lightning shortened the game to 77 minutes.
New York 1-1 Charleston - weather caused them to move the game to Sunday.
-Wed Mar 19
New York 1-1 Toronto
San Jose 2-1 Charleston
-Sat Mar 22
Toronto 0-2 Charleston
San Jose 3-0 New York
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Charleston Battery - host team website.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Saturday match reports from the Charleston Post & Courier.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumors - Don't Tease Me Bro

Word from MetroFanatic on a potential new Red Bull player - Venezuelan Ronald Vargas who plays for Caracas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave on The Red Card blog says its looking good for a Barcelona game in Chicago this summer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

College News

Here's a pretty cool one - a regular reader David told me that his brother Daniel who is an assistant coach at Winthrop University in South Carolina was headed to Uganda in Africa to scout players. Daniel has been doing a blog. I know that today is his last day there, but the two weeks worth of notes he posted are pretty cool. I love this kinda story. (Thanks for sending this to us David, much appreciated!)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Team USA

Team USA official blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Wed Mar 26
Poland v USA - International friendly from Krakow, live at 2:30pm central time on Fox Soccer Channel.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA Roster For Wednesday Match In Poland-
G:
Marcus Hahnemann - Reading
Tim Howard - Everton
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover 96
Jay DeMerit - Watford
Cory Gibbs - Charlton Athletic
Oguchi Onyewu - Standard de Liege
Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock
Jonathan Spector - West Ham United
M:
Michael Bradley - Heerenveen
Ricardo Clark - Houston Dynamo
Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy
Benny Feilhaber - Derby County
Eddie Lewis - Derby County
F:
Brian Ching - Houston Dynamo
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Eddie Johnson - Fulham
Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Man, it's great to see a picture of Cory Gibbs in action. This was stolen from the US Soccer Men's National Team blog. Our buddy Trent may have even taken it. He is one of the good guys. And we appreciate all their hard work.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kartik Krishnaiyer of the American Soccer Radio Show tells us why Kasey Keller should still be the USA #1 goalkeeper, on his American Soccer Spot blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA Olympic Team

Official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Freddy Adu, Charlie Davies, Jonathan Spector & Sal Zizzo were all released from the USA team on Friday so they could rejoin their European clubs who had weekend matches.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jozy Altidore dropped a note on the New York Times Goal blog after the successful qualifying.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Another Andrew Winner article today from Soccer Training Info, in which he calls Jonathan Spector the key to USA Olympic success.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying

The 2 semifinal winners will qualify for the Olympics in Beijing in late summer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Final Match & Score:
-Sun Mar 23
Honduras 1-0 USA - Hon goal by Georgie Welcome in extra time after regulation ended scoreless.
Match report from US Soccer
Match report from the Tennessean.
Post game analysis & player ratings by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Post game players ratings from Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America.
Post game USA coach & player quotes from US Soccer.
Game photos from US Soccer.
Post game video interview from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Both Honduras and the USA had already advanced to the Olympics after winning their semifinal games on Thursday night.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here is the CONCACAF All-Tournament Best 11:
G:
Kevin Hernandez - Honduras
D:
Carlos Castrillo - Guatemala
Oscar Morales - Honduras
Michael Orozco - USA
M:
Nelson Barahona - Panama
Jose Manuel Contreras - Guatemala
Maurice Edu - USA
Dax McCarty - USA
F:
Freddy Adu - USA
Leonel Duarte - Cuba
Will Johnson - Canada
-USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan made the honorable mention list. But I thought Stuart Holden, Nathan Sturgis and Marvell Wynne also deserved high marks.
-Luis Angel Landin & Cesar Villaluz of Mexico made the honorable mention list.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

A long time soccer news site has been re-launched: American Soccer News. They have been at it longer than most, and it's great that they didn't go away like many of us feared. Good luck to Nathaniel & Co.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

I have been meaning to mention this for like a week now - I wrote that Kasey Keller and Brad Friedel faced off for the first time when Fulham played Blackburn, but several readers pointed out that Keller faced Friedel when he was at Tottenham. Excellent call!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

How'd their weekend matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - team did not play this weekend.
-Bryan Arguez - Hertha Berlin - on the bench but did not play in a 1-2 home loss to Schalke.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - played 90 but scored for an Own Goal in a 3-1 loss at Koblenz.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - on the bench but did not take part in a 2-0 loss at Newcastle.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - went the full 90 and scored his teams first and last goals in a 4-3 home victory over Roda JC Kerkrade. He now has 15 Eredivisie goals this season.
-Dan Califf - Aalborg - played all 90 minutes, picking up a Yellow Card, and winning 2-0 at home over Viborg.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went all 90 as usual at left back and drew 1-1 at Duisburg. They played 85 minutes with only 10 men, not bad.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - still out with the knee injury
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - came on in the 66th minute of a 2-0 loss at Newcastle.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - started and went 90 in a 1-1 draw at Plymouth.
-Joe Enochs - Osnabruck - came on in the 60th minute of a 2-1 loss at St Pauli.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - did not dress for a 1-0 loss at Middlesbrough.
-Gabriel Ferrari - Sampdoria - not on the bench for his teams 1-1 home draw with Cagliari.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - played the entire match and won 3-1 at home over Wigan.
-Cory Gibbs - Charlton - still out with the foot injury.
-Joshua Grenier - Koblenz - on the bench for his teams 3-1 win over 1860 Munchen.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - in goal as usual and beat Birmingham 2-1 at home.
-Tally Hall - Esbjerg - did not play in his teams 1-0 loss at Randers.
-Tim Howard - Everton - played the whole match and tied West Ham 1-1 at home.
-Nate Jaqua - Rheindorf Altach - played the entire match but lost 3-0 at Linz.
-Will John - Randers - did not play in a 1-0 home win over Esbjerg.
-Eddie Johnson - Fulham - started and went 90 but lost 2-0 at Newcastle.
-Kasey Keller - Fulham - played all 90 but lost 2-0 at Newcastle.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - went the distance but lost 1-0 at Middlesbrough.
-Clint Mathis - Ergotolis - came on in the 83rd minute as the team beat Atromitos 1-2 on the road. They have climbed from last up to 4th from last since the beginning of the new year. Great for Mathis.
-Brian McBride - Fulham - started and went 66 minutes of a 2-0 loss at Newcastle.
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - started and played 54 minutes in a 1-0 home victory over Esbjerg.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - started and went the distance in a 2-0 home win over Bergen Mons.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - came on in the 43rd minute of a 4-1 road loss to Stuttgart.
-Matt Pickens - Queens Park Rangers - on the bench for a 3-3 tie game at Wolverhampton.
-Robbie Russell - Viborg - did not play in his teams 2-0 loss at Aalborg.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - still out with the ankle injury.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - came on for the final 8 minutes of a 1-1 road draw at Everton.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - went 90 in a 1-1 home draw with Hoffenheim.
-Danny Szetela - Brescia - subbed into the action in the 74th minute but lost 1-0 at Triestina.
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - went the full match but lost 2-0 at Odense.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - went the distance in a losing effort, 3-1 at Koblenz.
-Sal Zizzo - Hannover - did not dress for the teams 1-1 draw at Duisburg.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One thing I have noticed this season is that Oguchi Onyewu has cut down considerably on his Yellow and Red Cards. That is a great thing to see.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF News

Friendlies - Matches & Scores:
-Sun Mar 23
Venezuela 1-0 El Salvador
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Canadian News

A new site has launched tracking the career's of Canadians playing in Europe - Canucks Abroad! (You know, like Yanks Abroad.) A crew of fans will all chip in and track your fave players. As a an added bonus, Canadian international Julian de Guzman is going to do some blogging on the site too. Very cool, and surprisingly well done for Canadians!!! (thanks to Al for the heads up)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South American News

Reuters reports on the violence of Racing Club fans that got their game v Estudiantes called off in the 77th minute. Is it getting worse than ever in Argentina?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Mar 25
Coronel Bolognesi v Cienciano
Maracaibo v Atlas
San Lorenzo v Bamin Real Potosi
-Mar 26
Liga Universitaria Quito v Arsenal
River Plate v Universidad Catolica
Dep Univ San Martín v America
-Mar 27
Cucuta Deportivo v Chivas Guadalajara
Boca Juniors v Colo Colo
Danubio v Deportivo Cuenca
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Fans of the team Stockport County own their team and are now trying to buy the stadium too. They are just looking for 1 Million people to each pledge 1 English Pound as a down payment against a loan. Join in won't you! (They have a long way to go.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

La Gazzetta dello Sport in Italy says Pato is no longer the red hot youngster at Milan, Alberto Paloschi is.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Barcelona have found themselves a new young saint as well. Bojan Krkic. The name is Serbian, but the boy is Spanish. Without Messi or Ronaldinho this weekend, Krkic scored 2 and assisted on 2 others. Impressive. And he has a great smile too.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Then there is the well known commodity of Cristiano Ronaldo - very simple - 33 goals in 32 games this season. Wow!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with Germany & Arsenal goofy goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Reuters Soccer Blog on how Liverpool's Javier Mascherano talked himself into a Red Card. By the way, both Mascherano and his coach Rafa Benetiz claim they have "no idea" why he was sent off. He didn't curse. Yeah right. Any chance that an English translation of Mascherano is "Moronic Idiot"?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters blog also has an article on the slide of Mexico and coach Hugo Sanchez.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A 3rd Reuters blog story on a shirt design for Eintracht Frankfurt that is NOT going to be used, to avoid religious criticism.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paolo Bandini at the Guardian writes about Alessandro Del Piero, who is still ripping it up for Juventus, but not getting a shot with Italy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sid Lowe of the Guardian is in Spain and tells us that with Valencia staring into the abyss, they made a move in the right direction.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Samuel of the Times says England coach Fab Capello is looking for the new young guns. He is not finding them.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Observer (early this month) with a story on a real jet set playboy who owns Queens Park Rangers - Mr F1 Renault, Flavio Briatore. Have you ever seen this dude? He has a car racing mullet!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Duncan Castles of the Observer has a profile of Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mike at Needle In The Hay has a long essay/tribute/history on what I can only assume is his favorite team - Arsenal, of North London.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Long time readers will know of my hair-style fetish, and Ollie at Who Ate All The Pies has compiled the 10 Worst EPL Hair-do's of 07-08. Right up my alley. Gallas gets my vote for worst!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro Club Matches This Week

Matches & Scores:
Inter 1-2 Juventus - derby d’Italia, and Inter's lead is crumbling before their eyes.
Sevilla 1-2 Atletico Madrid - #5 v #4 battled it out for the last Champions League spot.
Manchester United 3-0 Liverpool - #1 v #4, and nothing between them changes.
Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal - starts as #3 v #2 and ends as #2 v #3.
Sparta 3-2 Feyenoord - the Rotterdam derby
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Top 5 Teams in Euro's 5 Biggest Leagues

-Premiership-
73 Manchester United
68 Chelsea
67 Arsenal
59 Liverpool
57 Everton

-La Liga-
62 Real Madrid
58 Barcelona
56 Villarreal
50 Atletico Madrid
47 Racing Santander

-Serie A-
68 Inter Milan
64 Roma
58 Juventus
53 Fiorentina
49 Milan

-Bundesliga-
53 Bayern Munich
46 Hamburg
44 Bayer Leverkusen
44 Werder Bremen
44 Schalke

-Ligue Un-
64 Lyon
55 Bordeaux
52 Nancy Lorraine
46 Marseille
43 Nice

USA Roster For Wednesday Match In Poland

G:
Marcus Hahnemann - Reading
Tim Howard - Everton
D:
Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham
Steve Cherundolo - Hannover 96
Jay DeMerit - Watford
Cory Gibbs - Charlton Athletic
Oguchi Onyewu - Standard de Liege
Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock
Jonathan Spector - West Ham United
M:
Michael Bradley - Heerenveen
Ricardo Clark - Houston Dynamo
Landon Donovan - Los Angeles Galaxy
Benny Feilhaber - Derby County
Eddie Lewis - Derby County
F:
Brian Ching - Houston Dynamo
Clint Dempsey - Fulham
Eddie Johnson - Fulham
Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich

Perfectly Fine News

Now that is how you play the game! The USA Olympic team played a nearly flawless match and beat Canada 3-0 to secure their spot in Beijing in late summer. Great job fellas! See details in CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying section.


TV Specials This Weekend

60 Minutes has an interview with David Beckham this Sunday night, Mar 23. Their website has a preview of the story.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fox Soccer Channel will be running a MLS Season Preview on Sun Mar 23 at 7pm central.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

Chivas USA has signed Francisco Mendoza to a contract for this season. I had no idea this was still an issue.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Remember yesterday when I wrote that Brad Guzan's knee injury would keep him out of the Chivas lineup for game 1. I might be wrong about that.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Buzz Carrick with this weeks FC Dallas practice report.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch on his Covering The Crew weblog has some notes from last nights "fan forum" where fans got to ask questions of the Crew brass. I hope to find a transcript for you somewhere.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis for MLSnet with the top 5 stories of the week.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports had a column last month and named the top 20 players in MLS, with Shalrie Joseph of New England at the top of the top. This new article goes in to detail on Joseph.
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MLS Preseason Friendlies

This is pretty much the last hurrah for preseason games, and as you can see 11 of the leagues 14 teams are in action and they have some pretty decent challengers lined up:
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Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 22
Chicago v Colorado in Jackson MS
Dallas v Paranaense (Brazil) at PHP
Kansas City v Salt Lake in Norman OK at the Saturn Challenge Cup
Columbus v Isidro Metapan (El Salvador) at Crew Stadium
Richmond (USL 2nd Div) v DC at University of Richmond Stadium
Chivas USA v Real Espana (Honduras) at Cal State Fullerton's Titan Stadium
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Carolina Challenge Cup

Preseason Tournament March 15-22 in Charleston South Carolina
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Team standings after 2 or 3 rounds:
6 San Jose Earthquakes - winner!
2 New York Red Bulls
1 Charleston Battery
1 Toronto FC
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Matches & Scores:
-Sat Mar 15
San Jose 1-0 Toronto - lightning shortened the game to 77 minutes.
New York 1-1 Charleston - weather caused them to move the game to Sunday.
-Wed Mar 19
New York 1-1 Toronto
San Jose 2-1 Charleston
-Sat Mar 22
Toronto v Charleston
San Jose v New York
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Charleston Battery - host team website.
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USL Second Division News

Real Maryland has signed Christian Gomez's younger brother Pablo.
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Team USA

-Wed Mar 26
Poland v USA - International friendly from Krakow, live at 2:30pm central time on Fox Soccer Channel.
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USA Olympic Team

Official team blog.
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CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying

The 2 semifinal winners have now qualified for the Olympics in Beijing later this summer.
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Semifinal Matches & Scores (both games at LP Field in Nashville TN):
-Thu Mar 20
Guatemala 0-0 Honduras - Hon adv 6-5 on PKs.
USA 3-0 Canada - USA goals by Freddy Adu(2) & Sacha Kljestan.
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report from the Tennessean of Nashville.
Match report from Yanks Abroad.
Post game analysis & players ratings by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Post game analysis by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Post game analysis by Robert Wagman of Soccer Times.
Post game quotes from USA coach & players from US Soccer.
Game photos from US Soccer.
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Final Match & Score (all games at LP Field in Nashville TN):
-Sun Mar 23
USA v Honduras
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer talks to Jozy Altidore about the bruising game he had.
-More player and coach reactions from Lewis.
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Then Lewis looks ahead to Sunday's final v Honduras. How will coach Nowak play this one. I bet he has a very different lineup than last night.
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Soccer In America

Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer gives us his view from the big gala fund raiser in New York for the Harlem Youth Soccer assoc. Good quotes from stars galore.
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Americans In Europe

Midweek Games-
Thu Mar 20:
-Joe Enochs - Osnabruck - 2-1 loss at St Pauli.
-Will John - Randers - was on the bench but did not play in a 0-0 match at Aarhus.
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - started and went 70 minutes of a goalless game at Aarhus.
-Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - 1-1 home draw with Kickers Offenbach.
-Robbie Russell - Viborg - did not suit up for his teams 3-2 loss at home to Nordsjaelland.
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - came on in the 40th minute of a scoreless home match v Randers.
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CONCACAF Champions Cup

Quarterfinals - 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Tue Mar 18
DC 5-0 Harbour View - DC advance 6-1 on aggregate. - DC goals by Devon McTavish(2), Luciano Emilio(2) & Fred.
-Wed Mar 19
Pachuca 1-0 Motagua - Pach adv 1-0 on agg. - Pach goal by Luis Montes.
Houston 3-1 Municipal - Hou adv 3-1 on agg. - Hou goals by Dwayne De Rosario(2) & Chris Wondolowski. Mun goal by Pando Ramirez.
-Thu Mar 20
Saprissa 3-0 Atlante - Sap adv 4-2 on agg. (Alt suffered 2 own goals in this loss!)
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Semifinals - 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 1
Pachuca v DC
-wed Apr 2
Houston v Saprissa
Semifinals - 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Wed Apr 9
DC v Pachuca
Saprissa v Houston
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NOTE: There is no away-goals tie breaker used in this tournament.
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Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 18
Audax Italiano 1-0 Atletico Nacional - Aud goal by Fabian Orellana.
Estudiantes 2-0 Danubio - Estu goals by Juan Sebastian Veron(PK) & Leandro Desabato.
Caracas 1-1 Cruzeiro - Cara goal by Juan David Valencia. Cruz goal by Marcelo Moreno(PK).
-Wed Mar 19
San Jose 2-1 Santos San J goals by Luis Cerutti & Luis Garcia. Sant goal by Kleber Pereira.
Flamengo 2-0 Nacional - Flam goals both by Marcinho.
Libertad 1-2 Fluminense - Flum goals both by Washington. Lib goal by Juan Samudio.
-Thu Mar 20
Deportivo Cuenca 1-1 Lanus - Cue goal by Jhon Garcia. Lan goal by Sebastian Salomon.
Sportivo Luqueno 1-1 Sao Paulo - Luq goal by Adriano Duarte. Sao goal by Aloisio.
Colo Colo 2-0 Boca Juniors - Colo goals by Cristobal Jorquera & Gustavo Biscayzacu.
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Group Stage Standings
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European News

What a great weekend for the teams at the top in England. A lot could change in just one day.
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Only 5 games to go this season in Holland.
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Euro League Cup Competitions

-Copa Del Rey-
Final Match & Score:
-April 16
Getafe v Valencia
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Big Euro Club Matches This Weekend

Scores & Matches:
-Sat Mar 22
Inter v Juventus - derby d’Italia
Sevilla v Atletico Madrid - #5 v #4 battling it out for the last Champions League spot.
-Sun Mar 23
Manchester United v Liverpool - #1 v #4
Chelsea v Arsenal - #3 v #2
Sparta v Feyenoord - the Rotterdam derby
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World Cup 2010 - South Africa News

Many World Cup qualifiers coming up next Wednesday, along with a giant list of friendlies.