Pierluigi Is My Monkey's Uncle News

Jean-Phillipe Peguero signs with San Jose yesterday before the roster deadline. You may remember him from New York & Colorado. He blew out his knee at Brondy in Denmark [FIXED] and is now back. See San Jose Earthquakes section for details.

~and~

I want to make a list of this years crop of MLS rookies that we should start tracking in the race for the Rookie Of The Year award. So send me your suggestions


MLS Scoreboard

Week 4 Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 17
DC v Columbus - 7pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Apr 19
Toronto v Salt Lake - 11:30am central on Direct Kick
New York v New England - 6:30pm central on HDNet
Colorado v San Jose - 8:30pm central on FSC
Los Angeles v Houston - 9:30pm central on Direct Kick
-Sun Apr 20
Chicago v Kansas City - 2pm central on TeleFutura
Chivas USA v Dallas - 7pm central on Direct Kick
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet previews Thursday nights game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave with an article on defender Wilman Conde who apologized to his teammates for his demand to be traded.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arroyave with lots more good Fire stuff on his blog The Red Card:
-Some outtakes from the Conde story.
-Chris Rolfe is having trouble with his right ankle. Last year it was his left.
-The teams interim President, Javier Leon, is not a candidate for the full time position.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CD CHIVAS USA

Forward Alecko Eskandarian is headed to Germany this week to possibly have that great quick fix hernia surgery that one doctor over there has perfected.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

In the dying minutes of last nights MLS transfer window opening, Columbus got their man from Nigeria signed to a contract. Young midfielder Emmanuel Ekpo played for the club Enyimba in his homeland, and trained during this offseason with the Crew hoping to get a deal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch has an article on 2 Crew assistant coaches Robert Warzycha & Mike Lapper who still love to get in on the action during practice sessions. Especially when head coach Sigi can't because of his pregnancy. When is that guys due date anyway? I could have sworn it was several years ago.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner on the return to DC of new Crew midfielder Brian Carroll.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America feels that Guillermo Barros Schelotto will be required to take the Crew as far as he can this season. No one else has the ability he has to make it happen. Via Sports Illustrated.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Buzz Carrick at 3rd Degree gives us this weeks Practice Observations on Dallas.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

Soccer 365 has a Q & A with forward Santino Quaranta.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Defender Eddie Robinson has finally been caught and disciplined for one of his dirty cheap shots. No call was made at the time but his forearm to the face of KC defender Tyson Wall caused quite a gash that needed stitches to repair. Robinson will be suspended for 3 games. Don't get me wrong here, I love Eddie, but THAT was a cheap shot of the first order.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with some Dynamo & MLS notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

The teams website has a Q & A with new Colombian forward Ivan Trujillo.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with an article on young Revolution defender Amaechi Igwe who has gotten a chance to play the past 2 games and has certainly shown he has the potential to be a real player.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger looks at the never ending upheaval that goes on in the MetroStars/Red Bulls on and off the field.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Rogers at Soccer 365 questions the talent at the Red Bulls, are they getting the most out of their players?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brian Lewis at the New York Post Extra Time blog with notes from last weekends NYRB game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News says the RSL players are trying not to let the big win over DC go to their heads.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Salt Lake Tribune says that RSL finally has the depth to push starters with guys who can be replaced if not performing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Elliott Almond of the San Jose Mercury News on the Equakes adding former MLS striker Jean-Phillipe Peguero of Haiti on loan from Brondby in Sweden. If he is healthy, after a bad knee injury, and can regain that form he had in New York, he could add a lot to this offense-depleted team. For coach Frank Yallop's sake I hope its a good move.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Soccer By Ives is reporting that TFC has hired former MLS defender Tim Regan as the teams Technical Director. WTF? I thought that was Mo Johnston's new job? Regan was a journeyman type player who was never a full time starter, but someone thinks he knows a lot about the game and can help make a team better. Good for Regan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TFC has released defender Andrew Boyens who was a starter for most of last season. No offense to Boyens personally, but for the team this is a step in the right direction.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nigel Reed on his Extra Time blog at the CBC looks at what last weekends win in LA can tell us about team so far this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Half way home on the flight from their match in LA the teams plane was forced to make an emergency landing in Omaha due to equipment problems. Roads were actually cleared around the airport and fire trucks & ambulances were standing by. Thankfully nothing happened. They got on another plane, and finished the journey!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Toronto Star lets us know that they have pretty damn good chow in the concession stands at BMO Field.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated gives us the names of 4 young players who can become the next wave of great MLS players.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bloomberg, the financial news company, has a video interview with league commish Donald L Garber. Video link is in the far right column of the page)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Martin Rogers at Yahoo Sports looks the comparison of MLS to the Premiership. Fact or fiction. Well, you and I all know it's fiction, but the tale is not as tall as some might think.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Dallas Morning News with an article on the surprise start to the season (good and bad) by several clubs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pete Grathoff of the KC Star with his weekly round up of MLS info.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul Gardner at Soccer America on some of the things that make no sense, yet make soccer so amazing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Stadium Talk

The San Jose Mercury News has some more good news on the progress toward building a stadium in their city.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Ann Ramzy of Soccernet looks at the first weekend of the USL1D season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail's blog On Soccer gives us some info on Canada's two USL1D teams - Vancouver & Montreal, who started their seasons against each other on Saturday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Team USA

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his Red Card blog says the USA will probably play a World Cup qualifier at Toyota Park.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 News

In Beja, Portugal for the Campos Verdes International Tournament this week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
USA 1-3 Cape Verde Islands - USA goal by Brek Shea.
-Wed Apr 16
USA v Northern Ireland
-Fri Apr 18
USA v Portugal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Am I reading this right? They lost to Cape Verdes Island? Seriously? Come on coach Rongen, get yer boys together here! This is embarrassing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Everton are chasing hard after Michael Bradley.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Soccer Daily talks to Dan Califf about his future, be it at Aalborg or somewhere else next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Green at the Daily Breeze feels like I do, if Fulham is relegated from the Premiership it will dim the light a little on the American soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Eddie Johnson scored the game winner for the Fulham reserves as they won 2-0 over Aston villa at home. (thanks to Brian for this info)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer 365 has a Q & A with young goalkeeper Colin Burns who just joined Ljungskile in Sweden.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tuesday games to watch for:
-Joe Enochs - Osnabruck - did not play as they lost 2-0 at Koln.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played all 90 minutes but lost the second leg of the Belgian Cup Semifinal match 4-0 at Gent and were knocked out with the aggregate of 6-2. Gooch also claimed a Yellow Card for his efforts.
-Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - did not play, the team won at home 2-0 against Augsburg.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - came off the bench in the 60th minute but lost at home 1-2 to Werder Bremen.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - played all 90 minutes as they won 6-1 at home over Paderhorn.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wednesday games to watch for:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - the Taca de Portugal (League Cup) Semifinal derby match against Lisbon rivals Sporting!
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - at Borussia Dortmund
-Joshua Grenier - Koblenz - at home versus Freiburg
-Sal Zizzo - Hannover - at Borussia Dortmund
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thursday games to watch for:
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - at home against Wehen
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - at home v Elfsborg
-Tim Howard - Everton - at home to Chelsea
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - at home v Elfsborg
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - at home against Wehen
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF News

Beau Dure of USA Today with an article on the 6 Cuban players who defected from the Olympic team during the qualifying tournament in the USA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying

Belize will host the "home" leg of the series v Mexico in Houston at Reliant Stadium on June 16.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

-Wed Apr 16
Mexico v China in Seattle - Chucho at the wheel of the company truck.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Seattle Post Intelligencer with 2 articles on the match, which they say has sold over 48,000 tickets and could even sell out!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Graciela Resendiz at ESPN Deportes with a weekend wrap up from the Mexican Premiera.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Grahame Jones of the LA Times on Mexico's search for a new national team head coach.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno of Press Enterprise ponders the debacle of Mexico's lack of coaching leadership right before they begin qualifying for the World Cup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bueno on his Sideline Views blog tells us who the players, coaches & club executives from around Mexico have been quoted as saying they would like to see considered for the national team job.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South American News

Millonarios coach Mario Alberto Vanemerak was recently suspended by the club for 3 months after he kicked down a door and did more property damage after the team lost an important game, and today the team went one step further and decided to relieve him of his job completely.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
Danubio 1-2 Lanus - Dan goal by Cristian Bardaro. Lan goals by Sebastian Blanco & Jose Sand.
Estudiantes 2-0 Deportivo Cuenca - Estu goals by Leandro Lazzaro & Polo Wila(OG).
-Wed Apr 16
Bamin Real Potosi v Cruzeiro
San Lorenzo v Caracas
San Jose v Guadalajara Chivas
Santos v Cucuta Deportivo
Libertad v Arsenal
-Thu Apr 17
Universidad Catolica v America
River Plate v Univ San Martin
Fluminense v LDU Quito
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Estudinates & Lanus join Cucuta Deportivo, Atlas, Cruzeiro, Fluminense & LDU Quito in securing 7 of the 16 spots in the knock out rounds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Jamie Redknapp writing for the Daily Mail breaks down the flaws in Arsenal this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tim Vickery at Sports Illustrated tells us that Arsenal's big mistake has been not utilizing Gilberto Silva's talent.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chelsea is going to rest forward Didier Drogba and his bad knee on Thursday night against Everton in hopes that he will be in better shape for the Champions League next week against Liverpool.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times takes a look at Chelsea coach Avram Grant and his standing at the team at this moment in time.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reports from England say Liverpool co-owner wants to sign coach Rafa Benitez to a long term deal if he can secure lone ownership of the club.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Paul Doyle of the Guardian tells the real story of why Dutch star Johann Cruyff did not play for his country in the 1978 World Cup. It's quite a story.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reebok has a cool video feature on Thierry Henry (along with other athletes). Nice! Actor Paz Vega directed this. Also nice.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chelsea, Lokomotiv Moscow, Milan & Sevilla will participate in the Russian Railways Cup in early August in Moscow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Football Italia reports that in a game last Saturday Roma striker Francesco Totti was scene letting loose with a long and loud profanity filled tirade against the referee. He got a Yellow Card. But many in Italy thought he deserved Red for the severity of the attack. Today the head of the Italian Referee's Assoc agreed that it should have been Red, but there will be no post-game repercussions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian wonders if problems with Poland will cause them to lose their hosting rights of the 2012 UEFA European Championship.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World Soccer with a story on coach Giovanni Trapattoni as he takes over the leash on the Ireland national team. Via Sports Illustrated.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro League Cup Competitions

-Copa del Rey- Final
Match & Score:
-Wed Apr 16
Getafe v Valencia
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Coppa Italia- Semifinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 16
Inter v Lazio
Roma v Catania
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Wed May 7
Lazio v Inter (-)
Catania v Roma (-)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Coupe de France- Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
Amiens 1-0 Dijon
Lyon 1-0 Metz
-Wed Apr 16
Bordeaux v Sedan Ardennes
Carquefou v Paris St Germain
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Taca de Portugal- Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
Vitoria Setubal 0-3 Porto
-Wed Apr 16
Sporting v Benfica
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Beker van Belgie- Semifinals
1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 18
Standard de Liege 2-2 Gent
-Wed Mar 19
Anderlecht 1-0 Germinal Beerschot
2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Apr 15
Gent 4-0 Standard de Liege - Gent advance 6-2 on aggregate.
-Wed Apr 16
Germinal Beerschot v Anderlecht (0-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro Club Matches This Week

The Old Firm derby is on tonight - Celtic v Rangers!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

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

Ravi Ubha at the Seattle Post Intelligencer with his soccer news recap from all over the world - the Beautiful Game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune with his always quality Trophies, Red Cards, & Sidelines notes.

Great Ship Of Destiny News

du Nord Major League Soccer Player Of The Week

Kyle Beckerman - Midfielder - Real Salt Lake
Scored 2 great goals, while turning in his regular shift of very hard play, then showed the leadership as team captain, and took the team to a big 4-0 home win over DC United. His team is playing quite well despite being 1-1-1 after 3 games. In the first game they came within moments of beating Chicago only to have some Blanco magic slap them back to reality. In game two they came as close to tying 2-2 at Chivas as they did losing 3-1, and for much of that match they were the better team. And now in game 3 they stepped up and played a full game against a team ripe for the picking. Beckerman was outstanding.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CD CHIVAS USA

Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times says Chivas USA is on the hunt for a big big name to add to their team this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Steve Sirk at the Columbus team site with his always excellent weekly wrap up of his teams matches. Long, but well worth it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer lists the early candidates for the open job as NYRB top gun slinger. Some pretty interesting people there. I think Deputy Festus is available.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lewis reports that Argentine defender Guillermo Imhoff is training with the Red Bulls.
-And the team will not be offering a contract to Scottish defender Chris Innes from Gretna.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lewis talks to Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio about his multiple defensive question marks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

After 2 games you have to say that picking up Lorent Robert looks like a great move. Let's hope it continues!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

After 3 games Kenny Cooper of Dallas and Landon Donovan of Los Angeles lead the league in goal scoring with 3 apiece.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS named Guillermo Barros Schelotto of the Columbus Crew as the Player Of The Week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The North American Soccer Reporters have also named Schelotto as the MLS Player Of The Week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steve Davis at MLSnet with his excellent weekly game recap.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
7 Chicago
7 Kansas City
6 Columbus
6 New England
3 New York
3 DC
3 Toronto
Western Conference
6 Colorado
5 Dallas
4 Chivas USA
4 Salt Lake
3 Los Angeles
2 Houston
0 San Jose
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Want to give a heads up to all the soccer fans in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis & St Paul:
It's the 5th Annual Minnesota Thunder Supporters Summit.
Any and all soccer fans are invited to join us to meet new friends in football and kick off the season.
Thursday, April 24th
7pm til ?:??am central time
The Sweetwater Bar & Grill in the Kelly Inn
Just off downtown St Paul
The Thunder also kick off their season at 9pm central that night in Portland and we will be watching.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Team USA

FIFA.com talks to Landon Donovan about the first opponent in World Cup qualifying - Barbados.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 News

In Beja, Portugal for the Campos Verdes International Tournament this week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
USA v Northern Ireland
-Wed Apr 16
USA v Cape Verde Islands
-Fri Apr 18
USA v Portugal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

du Nord Americans In Europe Player Of The Week

Brian McBride - Forward - Fulham Football Club
Looks to be playing nearly as well as he ever has. Had a fantastic early goal against Reading to set the pace, and gave his team his tremendous leadership in a very important win. They had not won in 33 road games before that. The whole team looked great and he was the #1 reason. Maybe he can even lead Fulham out of relegation. It's a long shot but if anyone can do it, it's McBride.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Matches from Monday:
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - did not play in a 4-0 loss at Sundsvall.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - went the full 90 in a 1-1 home tie with take AIK.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - still out injury as the team drew 1-1 at home against Plymouth.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - came on as a 79th minute sub but lost 4-0 at Sundsvall.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tuesday games to watch for:
-Joe Enochs - Osnabruck - away to Koln
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - second leg Belgian Cup Semifinal match at Gent with aggregate at 2-2 from 1st leg
-Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - home against Augsburg
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - at home against Werder Bremen
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - home to Paderhorn
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wednesday games to watch for:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - the Taca de Portugal (League Cup) Semifinal derby match against Lisbon rivals Sporting!
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - at Borussia Dortmund
-Joshua Grenier - Koblenz - at home versus Freiburg
-Sal Zizzo - Hannover - at Borussia Dortmund
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thursday games to watch for:
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - at home against Wehen
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - at home v Elfsborg
-Tim Howard - Everton - at home to Chelsea
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - at home v Elfsborg
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - at home against Wehen
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

-Wed Apr 16
Mexico v China in Seattle - Chucho at the wheel of the company truck.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
Danubio v Lanus
Estudiantes v Deportivo Cuenca
-Wed Apr 16
Bamin Real Potosi v Cruzeiro
San Lorenzo v Caracas
San Jose v Guadalajara Chivas
Santos v Cucuta Deportivo
Libertad v Arsenal
-Thu Apr 17
Universidad Catolica v America
River Plate v Univ San Martin
Fluminense v LDU Quito
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cucuta Deportivo join Atlas, Cruzeiro, Fluminense & LDU Quito in securing 5 of the 16 spots in the knock out rounds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Chelsea completely blew their chances to catch Manchester United this week by only getting 1 point in a 1-1 home tie with Wigan on Monday. They also travel to Everton on Thursday and could have been tied with a with there. Oof. Choke. Cough. Cak.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand signed a new 5 year contract with the team for an obscene amount of money. It's funny cuz he isn't even the best center back on his own team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccernet's The Insider gives us a great report from the Sunderland v Man City match. Always good reading.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Telegraph examine the holes in Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger's master plan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fulham midfielder Moritz Volz writing for The Times says - I believe we can survive. Great as always from Moritz.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune looks at Liverpool's on and off field trouble.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A brutally sad story from the archives of the Guardian - April 17 1989 - Hillsborough.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

A rare midweek Old Firm derby takes place on Wednesday night at Celtic Park.
Celtic v Rangers
-Rangers currently have a 4 point lead over Celtic, and also have 2 games in hand.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Silvio Berlusconi, the owner of AC Milan, has been elected to a third term as Prime Minister of Italy. The LA Times has an article, plus a picture of Roma star Francesco Totti voting!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil Ball at Soccernet tells what smaller clubs like Athletic Bilbao added to the futbol life in Spain.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After being beaten 5-1 by Werder Bremen on Saturday, Schalke coach Mirko Slomka was fired. I guess that after finishing 2nd in the league last season, that 3rd this year was just not going to be good enough. The really insane part is that the team turn right around and beat Energie Catbutt 5-0 today. Maybe the players were inspired by the coach being replaced?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Raphael Honigstein of the Guardian says Schalke's firing of Slomka was the right move. And he would know a hell of a lot more about it than I do.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times looks at who they think will be the biggest names in this summer's transfer games.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with Holland & Hamburg midfielder Rafael van der Vaart.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ben Lyttleton of the Guardian looks at struggling Monaco in France. Could they get relegated?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro League Cup Competitions

-Copa del Rey- Final
Match & Score:
-Wed Apr 16
Getafe v Valencia
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Coppa Italia- Semifinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 16
Inter v Lazio
Roma v Catania
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Wed May 7
Lazio v Inter (-)
Catania v Roma (-)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Coupe de France- Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
Amiens 1-0 Dijon
Lyon v Metz
-Wed Apr 16
Bordeaux v Sedan Ardennes
Carquefou v Paris St Germain
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Taca de Portugal- Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
Vitoria Setubal v Porto
-Wed Apr 16
Sporting v Benfica
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Beker van Belgie- Semifinals
1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Mar 18
Standard de Liege 2-2 Gent
-Wed Mar 19
Anderlecht 1-0 Germinal Beerschot
2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Apr 15
Gent v Standard de Liege (2-2)
-Wed Apr 16
Germinal Beerschot v Anderlecht (0-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Relegation Battle in each of Europe's Top Leagues

-Premiership-
*34 of 38 games played
39 Newcastle
36 Middlesbrough
36 Sunderland
35 Wigan
32 Reading
31 Birmingham
29 Bolton
27 Fulham
11 Derby - already relegated
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-La Liga-
*32 of 38 games played
40 Osasuna
39 Valladolid
39 Valencia
37 Recreativo Huelva
34 Zaragoza
29 Murcia
22 Levante
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Serie A-
*33 of 38 games played
38 Siena
34 Torino
32 Catania
32 Cagliari
31 Parma
30 Reggina
30 Empoli
29 Livorno
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Bundesliga-
*28 of 34 games played
38 Karlsruhe
38 Hannover
34 Bochum
34 Borussia Dortmund
33 Hertha Berlin
29 Energie Cottbus
27 Hansa Rostock
25 Duisburg
25 Armenia Bielefeld
23 Nurnberg
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Ligue Un-
*33 of 38 games played
40 Monaco
40 Auxerre
38 Toulouse
35 Lens
35 Paris St Germain
35 Strasbourg
18 Metz
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2008 UEFA European Championship

FIFA.com talks to Croatia coach Josip Simunic.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

Jack Bell of the New York Times with his world soccer news round up.

Grinning Fool Gringo News

This is not good - for the 8 MLS matches played this past week here are # of bodies in the stands: 8096, 20038, 8309, 9627, 6733, 11564, 13193, & 20426. An average of 12,248. Really poor.

~and~

Chicago has relieved team President John Guppy and shown him the door. I am never excited when anyone gets fired from a job. Its painful. But I think hardcore Fire fans will be very happy to see Guppy go. It's been a bit of a circus around there lately. And not in a good fun way.

~and~

After his ugly performance in goal on Saturday, I have dubbed DC back up keeper Jose Carvallo as Tony Caig Jr. (And in all honesty, after his performance in Columbus, Brad Guzan could be named Caig III.)


MLS Scoreboard

Week 3 Matches & Scores:
Kansas City 1-3 New England - KC goal by Jack Jewsbury(PK). NE goals by Jack Jewsbury(OG), Sainey Nyassi & Kenny Mansally.
-Attendance: 8,096
(see last Thursday for match reports etc)
San Jose 0-1 Chicago - Chic goal by Chad Barrett.
-Attendance: 20,038
Match report by Elliot Almond of the San Jose Mercury News.
Pre-In-Post game notes from Arroyave on his Red Card blog.
Post game analysis by Ann Killion of the Mercury News.
New England 0-1 Colorado - Colo goal by Nick LaBrocca.
-Attendance: 8,309
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report by Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald.
Post game notes from Dell'apa.
Post game notes from the Rocky Mountain News blog FC Rocky.
Kansas City 0-0 Houston
-Attendance: 9,627
Match report by Bob Luder of the Kansas City Star.
Match report from the Houston Chronicle.
Post game notes from Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on his Soccer y Futbol blog.
Post game notes from the Chronicle.
Post game notes by Luder.
Columbus 4-3 Chivas USA - Colu goals by Guillermo Barros Schelotto(PK), Alejandro Moreno & Robbie Rogers(2). Chiv goals by Sacha Kljestan, Jesse Marsch & Paulo Nagamura.
-Attendance: 6733
Match report by Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch.
Post game review from the Dispatch. Really good read.
Post game notes from Mitchell on his Covering the Crew blog.
Game wrap-up from the Dispatch.
Dallas 2-0 New York - Dal goals by Artura Alvarez & Kenny Cooper.
-Attendance: 11,564
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.
Match report from Big Apple Soccer.
Post game analysis by Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer.
Player ratings for NYRB by Jack Bell on the New York Times Goal blog.
Post game notes & video from FC Dallas Updates.
Post game notes & audio from the Red Bulls Reader - the teams official blog.
Salt Lake 4-0 DC - RSL goals by Kyle Beckerman(2), Fabian Espindola & Robbie Findley.
-Attendance: 13,193
Match report by James Edward of the Deseret Morning News.
>Match report from the Daily Utah Chronicle.
Match report by Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Player ratings for RSL by Edwards on the Deseret News Real Salt Lake blog.
Post game notes by Lewis.
Post game notes & DC player ratings by Goff on his Soccer Insider blog.
Los Angeles 2-3 Toronto - LA goals both by Landon Donovan(one via PK). Tor goals by Danny Dichio, Jarrod Smith & Jeff Cunningham.
-Attendance: 20,426
Match report by Graham Jones of the LA Times.
Match report by Scott Wolf of the LA Daily News.
Match report by Morgan Campbell of the Toronto Star.
Post game notes by Nick Green of the LA Daily News on his 100 Percent Soccer blog.
Post game notes by Ben Knight on the Toronto Globe & Mail blog On soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Red Card Perps:
Francesco Mendoza - Chivas USA - 2 Yellow Cards
Sacha Kljestan - Chivas USA - straight Red Card for a harsh foul
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune with lots of info on the dismisal of Fire team President John Guppy late Friday.
-And the initial word on the firing from Arroyave's Red Card blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Firchau of the Southtown Star on Guppy's firing, and a story about the possibility of conversations between team owner Andrew Hauptman and former team President Peter Wilt.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Len Ziehm with his Guppy ouster story.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post on his blog the Soccer Insider with a scoop on a potential new GM candidate, the kind that only Goff can deliver. Cuz he is just that good.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arroyave says that disgruntled defender Wilman Conde may be coming around to the idea that Chicago are not going to let him walk away, and is trying to make up for lost time with his teammates. He played well on Saturday in San Jose, not great, but well.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLORADO RAPIDS

The biggest surprise team so far this season. Two very good wins, one at home 4-0 over LA and the other on the road 1-0 at New England, and a road loss at KC in which they played very well and were unlucky not to get a point.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Wiebe at the American Soccer Daily with a story on the strong youth movement in Colorado. They have won the last [FIXED] two reserve league titles.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Don't call him Will Hesmer. It's William Hesmer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Dallas is 162 wins, 162 losses & 47 ties all time in MLS play.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Wade Barrett played in his 200th consecutive match this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Midfielder Davy Arnuad made his season debut in the 65th minute. He had been out since having surgery to repair a micro-fracture in his knee. Lot's of basketball players miss a whole year due to this injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

You can easily lay blame for all 3 Toronto goals at the feet of defender Greg Vanney. He was bad in positioning and really slow in covering.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrea Canales at Soccernet says Becklyn was not happy about losing to Toronto.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

The yo-yo opening to the season continues - big opening day home thrashing of the champs Houston, brutal loss in Chicago, great win at hot KC, and a stumble bum home loss to Colorado.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe on the depth of the Rev's roster being used to its fullest already this season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here is a nice picture of Kenny Mansally asking Adam Cristman to "marry me". Stolen from MLSnet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

New Costa Rican signing Argenis Fernandez made his debut in the midfield in the second half.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Stefan Bondy of the Herald News looks at the NYRB defense and sees trouble. The odds of the team signing Gretna defender Chris Innes just went way up.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News with a story on Dema Kovalenko and what he has brought to RSL.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Edward also has a story on Kyle Beckerman's big match and role on the team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Deseret Morning News also has a story on the good start to the season for RSL (despite the 1-1-1 record, they look good).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

So who is the big sexy name Toronto is bringing in this week to be an assistant coach? My guess? Ian Kilmister.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Jack Bell of the New York Times Goal blog writes about watching games on high definition television. He is knocked out by HDNet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post with a nice new feature on his Soccer Insider blog - a weekend match recap called The Good, The Bad, The Coyote Ugly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Apr 12
Miami 2-2 Charleston
Vancouver 1-0 Montreal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 News

In Beja, Portugal for the Campos Verdes International Tournament this week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer has an audio interview with the coach of this team, Thomas Rongen. Download or listen here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
USA v Northern Ireland
-Wed Apr 16
USA v Cape Verde Islands
-Fri Apr 18
USA v Portugal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe with news on a Boston area kid who has joined the legendary Sao Paolo club in Brazil.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

How'd their weekend matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - did not make the bench as the team won 3-0 at home against Coimbra.
-Bryan Arguez - Hertha Berlin - on the subs bench but saw no action in a 1-1 tie game at Bochum.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - lost 2-0 at Kickers Offenbach
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - came on in the 85th minute of a big 0-2 road win at Reading.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - played the whole match and set up his teams first got, but they lost 4-2 at Sparta Rotterdam.
-Adin Brown - Aalesunds - went the distance but lost 2-1 at Viking.
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - at Sundsvall on Monday.
-Dan Califf - Aalborg - started and went the full 90 in a losing effort, 2-0 at Midtjylland.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - went the distance in a 2-1 home win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - did not dress for their 0-2 home loss to Fulham.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - take on AIK Monday.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - started and went 85 minutes winning 0-2 at Reading
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - was not on the game day roster as the team drew 1-1 at West Bromich.
-Joe Enochs - Osnabruck - won at home 2-0 over Koblenz
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - on the bench but did not play as they lost badly, 0-6 at home against Aston Villa.
-Gabriel Ferrari - Sampdoria - not on the bench for a 1-0 loss at Reggina.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - in goal for a 3-1 loss at Liverpool.
-Cory Gibbs - Charlton - not dressed for a 1-1 home tied against Southampton.
-Clarence Goodson - Start - played the whole game and scored a goal in his teams 3-3 draw at Honefoss.
-Joshua Grenier - Koblenz - lost 2-0 at Osnabruck
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went the distance in a losing effort, 0-2 at home to Fulham.
-Tally Hall - Esbjerg - on the bench for a 2-1 loss at Brondby.
-Tim Howard - Everton - played the entire match as always, but could only get a 1-1 draw at Birmingham.
-Nate Jaqua - Rheindorf Altach - went all 90 in a bad losing effort 0-4 at home to Magna.
-Will John - Randers - did not suit up as the team drew 0-0 at Lyngby.
-Eddie Johnson - Fulham - did not dress for the teams 0-2 road win at Reading.
-Kasey Keller - Fulham - started as always now and finally won on the road, 0-2 at Reading.
-Joseph Lapira - Nybergsund - won 4-0 over Bryne at home.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - played all 90 merciless minutes of a 0-6 drubbing at home from Aston Villa.
-Clint Mathis - Ergotolis - did not play again this week, and they lost 3-2 at Larissa, falling back into the relegation zone.
-Brian McBride - Fulham - started and went all 90, scoring the winning goal in a huge 0-2 road win at Reading.
-Jay Needham - Alta - ouch, they got beat 3-7 at home by Odd Grenland.
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - played the full match in drawing 0-0 at Lyngby.
-Pat Noonan - Aalesunds - made his debut coming on as a 62nd minute sub but they lost 2-1 at Viking.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - played the whole game, but drew 0-0 at Lokeren.
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - a 74th minute sub who helped his team come back to win 1-2 on the road at Karlsruhe. Those are big points as they are only 2 above the drop.
-Matt Pickens - Queens Park Rangers - still riding the pine, and the team drew 1-1 at Hull.
-Troy Perkins - Valerenga - got the start in goal and won 0-4 at Lillestrom.
-Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - 0-0 at Erzgebirge Aue.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - host Plymouth on Monday.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - went the full 90 but lost 1-0 at Bolton.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - lost 2-1 at Augsburg.
-Danny Szetela - Brescia - won 2-3 at Albinoleffe.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - at Sundsvall on Monday.
-Brian Waltrip - Molde - did not dress for the teams 0-0 draw at Tromso.
-Cam Weaver - Haugesund - started and played all 90, but lost at home to Sogndal 0-1. He also got a Yellow Card.
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - did not suit up as the team beat Rosenborg 1-2 on the road.
-Quentin Westberg - Troyes - on the bench for a 2-2 home tie against Gueugnon.
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - came on as a 71st minute sub and scored 10 minutes later, but they lost 3-2 at Nordsjaelland.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - lost 2-0 at Kickers Offenbach
-Sal Zizzo - Hannover - did not dress for a 2-1 home win over Eintracht Frankfurt.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tuesday games to watch for:
-Joe Enochs - Osnabruck - away to Koln
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - second leg Belgian Cup Semifinal match at Gent
-Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - home against Augsburg
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - at home against Werder Bremen
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - home to Paderhorn
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wednesday games to watch for:
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - at Borussia Dortmund
-Joshua Grenier - Koblenz - at home versus Freiburg
-Sal Zizzo - Hannover - at Borussia Dortmund
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thursday games to watch for:
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - at home against Wehen
-Tim Howard - Everton - at home to Chelsea
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - at home against Wehen
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

With their 3rd coach of season Freddy Adu & Benfica have fallen apart and now dropped to 4th place after sitting in 2nd almost the entire season. They need to get their act together just to make UEFA Cup much less Champions League.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And speaking of Freddy, where has he gone? When was the last time he saw the field? It's like he vanished from his club after the Olympic qualifiers. There hasn't even been anything on his blog since then.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fulham won for the first time in their last 34 road games. That goes back to August 06. It's about frickin time. But is it all too late?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Norwegian's have taken to calling Clarence Goodson by the nickname "Clay"!!!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There are 3 Americans in Sweden this season, and American Soccer Daily gives us a preview of their teams.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans in Mexico

Luis Bueno at the Sideline Views gives us the recap of all the Americans playing last weekend south of the border.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

El Clasico!!
-Sat Apr 12
Chivas 3-2 America
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Chivas coasted to a 3-0 lead that could have been worse, then gained a man advantage, and then almost blew it by giving up two late goals that had America pushing hard for the draw until the last second.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
Danubio v Lanus
Estudiantes v Deportivo Cuenca
-Wed Apr 16
Bamin Real Potosi v Cruzeiro
San Lorenzo v Caracas
San Jose v Guadalajara Chivas
Santos v Cucuta Deportivo
Libertad v Arsenal
-Thu Apr 17
Universidad Catolica v America
River Plate v Univ San Martin
Fluminense v LDU Quito
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cucuta Deportivo join Atlas, Cruzeiro, Fluminense & LDU Quito in securing 5 of the 16 spots in the knock out rounds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Sid Lowe of the Guardian on the disastrous season for Zaragoza in Spain.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paolo Bandini of the Guardian on Inter's new man-child Mario Balotelli.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Football Italia with a recap of the weekend in Serie A.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro Club Matches This Weekend

Scores & Matches:
-Sat Apr 12
Juventus 3-2 Milan - Juve now all but assured of 3rd place and a Champions League spot for next season.
Werder Bremen 5-1 Schalke - Bremen leap back to the #2 spot with a massively blow to Schalke who had a bad week.
-Sun Apr 13
Manchester United 2-1 Arsenal - Man U stay #1 and Arsenal are all but out of the title fight.
Inter 2-0 Fiorentina - #1 Inter maintain a 4 point lead over Roma, while #4 Fiore keep the last Champions League spot because Milan lost too.
Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 Stuttgart - Leverkusen held strong while last years champs continued to be foolish with points.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

By only drawing 1-1 at home against Twente, PSV blew their first chance to win with Dutch league. Ajax play on Wednesday and again next Sunday with 6 points to make up. However Ajax hold a 44 to 40 goal differential tied breaker lead. Like last year it could go down to the last day, and a tie breaker. PSV won it last year in that fashion, so I have no doubt that Ajax would love revenge of the same kind.

Where I Ride News

Forgive me for not putting this at the top yesterday - On Wednesday night in Kansas City, New England became the first road team in MLS this season to win!

~and~

I didn't say this - Grahame Jones of the LA Times was mentioning that Landon Donovan has a new dog that needs some obedience training and then he wrote this: "If he really wants (the dog) to be submissive, Donovan might consider bringing him to see the Galaxy's opponent Sunday because no one rolls over more easily than winless Toronto FC." Ah, good luck next time yer in Toronto GJ!


MLS Scoreboard

Week 3 Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 9
Kansas City 1-3 New England - KC goal by Jack Jewsbury(PK). NE goals by Jack Jewsbury(OG), Sainey Nyassi & Kenny Mansally.
-Attendance: 8,096
-Sat Apr 12
San Jose v Chicago - 3:30pm central on FSC
Columbus v Chivas USA - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
New England v Colorado - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Kansas City v Houston - 7pm central on HDNet
Dallas v New York - 7:30pm central on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v DC - 8pm central on Direct Kick
Sun Apr 13
Los Angeles v Toronto - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Ives Galarcep at Soccer By Ives wrote a column lambasting Chicago for their handling of coach Juan Carlos Osorio departure for New York. Galarcep insists that this story have nothing to do with the two teams ongoing squabble over 2 players, Wilman Conde & Lider Marmol who are both Chicago property, who want to play in New York, but Chicago does not want to let them go.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune addresses the previous column on his Red Card blog. (This is good.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Len Ziehm of the Sun Times gives us the scoop on Chicago's opponent, San Jose.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Nick Firchau of the Southtown Star previews the Fire's weekend match. Defender CJ Brown is still out injured.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLORADO RAPIDS

Colorado has signed Scottish forward Tam McManus from Dunfermline.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brian Forbes of the Denver Post with the latest team notes, including the release of defender Dan Gargan. (Note: if Toronto doesn't pick up Gargan then it will prove that the whole organization is taking drugs - even coming off a knee injury he is better than anyone they have.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

FC Dallas Updates has a video interview with players Flecha Roja & Adrian Serioux.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Turns out that Eddie Robinson has been having knee problems this season even before he got kick hard in the leg last weekend. He has already had fluid drained once and may have to do it again. He also told Glenn Davis on the radio the other night that he thought for sure his leg was broken when Rocha of Dallas kicked him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

The KC Star with the latest Wizards notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Andrea Canales at Soccer 365 has an article on LA left fullback Mike Randolph.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe looks at the new crop of players coach Steve Nicol has brought in to fill the holes left by departing players over the past 2 years.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer New England with a story on the Revs 2 young Gambian players Kenny Mansally & Sainey Nyassi.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Juan Pablo Angel is definitely OUT of Saturday's match in Dallas. He has a hamstring injury, and did not travel with the team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MetroFanatic with a story on the purgatory Lider Marmol is having to live through. MF are also very proud of their headline: "Burn in Fire? Play with Angel? Marmol stuck in limbo". Nice and biblical.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Forward Jozy Altidore with his latest contribution to the New York Times Goal blog - I'm Ready To Go. No, he is not saying he is ready to leave the team, but that he is healthy and ready to play this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The latest in Red Bulls notes from Brian Lewis of the New York Post on his Extra Time blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beau Dure at USA Today with an article on NYRB coach Juan Carlos Osorio.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner has an article on former DC United TV announcer Garth Lagerway who is now the general manager of RSL.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael C Lewis of the Salt Lake Tribune talks to RSL coach Jason Kreis about a frustrating first 2 games of the season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

So this weekend Toronto could line up with a five man midfield of Maurice Edu, Carl Robinson, Amado Guevara, Laurent Robert & Marvell Wynne. Not bad at all. Now, about that defense.....
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Toronto made two more roster moves today - they signed midfielder Rohan Ricketts from Barnsley in England, and released Collin Samuel "for personal matters." I hate to read things like this.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet calls the signing of Amado Guevara a risky move by TFC. But hey, he can't make them worse, right?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Larry Millson of the Globe & Mail says TFC do not anticipate any problems with Amado Guevara. Well no shit Sherlock, what the hell else are they gonna say to the press??? "We are fully anticipating having a showdown at some point with this player, because that is what happens with Amado everywhere he goes, but until that day comes we look forward to his contributions to our team on the field."
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Morgan Campbell of the Star has words with TFC coach John Carver about Guevara.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Sun looks at how Toronto can corral Donald Bergman in LA this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Beau Dure of USA Today has a great Q & A session with former MLS & USA star goalkeeper Tony Meola. A great read.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Greg Lalas of Goal.com with his 3-5-2 column, focusing on Amado Guevara, New Eng & Seattle. You have to love this line: "It’s the sign of the apocalypse in Toronto"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet with his weekly game previews. (scroll down past Guevara article)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Shaka Hislop with his second MLS column for the Guardian: Blanco and Windy City give Revolution away-day blues.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America with an article on MLS teams struggles in Champions Cup & Copa Sudamericana. He has a couple of quotes from MLS chief Don Garber that have been the subject of debate this week, and ridicule from DC coach Tom Soehn.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Expansion News

Steve Pastorino at the US National Soccer Players Assoc feels Seattle is doing everything right so far as they prepare to enter MLS next spring. I personally see the stadium as a major problem down the road.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A fascinating article from Bloomberg about the city of Chester were the new Philadelphia team will make its home. Its not a pretty place, but they are all hoping that this team is one of the things to help turn the town around. (I found this story in J Hutcherson's daily column on the USNSPA site.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

The First Division season kicks off this Saturday!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Apr 12
Miami v Charleston
Vancouver v Montreal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brian Costello (a great friend of du Nord who always gives us the updates from the Northwest) has contributed a nice story to This Is American Soccer. Here is his story of a rainy night in Portland at a Timbers friendly against the San Jose Earthquakes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 News

Coach Thomas Rongen has taken a team to Beja, Portugal for the Campos Verdes International Tournament next week.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Apr 15
USA v Northern Ireland
-Apr 16
USA v Cape Verde Islands
-Apr 18
USA v Portugal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Roster:
G:
Bill Hamid - DC United
Zac MacMath - Clearwater Chargers
D:
Gale Agbossoumonde - IMG Academy
Victor Cortez - U San Francisco
Tommy Meyer - Scott Gallagher
Alfredo Morales - Hertha Berlin
Brek Shea - FC Dallas
Anthony Wallace - FC Dallas
Daniel Wenzel - Wake Forest
M:
Bryan Arguez - Hertha Berlin
Mikkel Diskerud - Stabak
Jorge Flores - Chivas USA
Abdusalam Ibrahim - FC Dallas
Jared Jeffrey - Club Brugge
Brendan King - Notre Dame
Gerson Mayen - Chivas USA
Andrew Wegner - PA Classics
F:
Vincezno Bernardo - Napoli
Peri Marosevic - U Michigan
Ellis McLoughlin - Hertha Berlin
Alex Nimo - Real Salt Lake
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

Paul Gardner at Soccer America has some question about the defection of 7 Cubans during Olympic qualifying.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

US Soccer has an audio interview with Watford defender Jay DeMerit.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sean O'Conor at American Soccer Daily talks to Readings Bobby Convey about his injuries and the match this weekend against Fulham.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

El Clasico!!
-Sat Apr 12 - Live at 7:30pm central on TeleFutura
Chivas v America - The Goats are way up. The Eagles are way down. Who wins the grudge match?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Luis Bueno at Sports Illustrated with an update on teams in the Mexican league and Copa Libertadores.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 8
Atlas 3-1 Boca Juniors - Atl goals by Gerardo Flores & Bruno Marioni(2). BJ goal by Sebastian Battaglia.
San Jose 2-4 Cucuta Deportivo - SJ goals by Luis Cerutti & Enrique Parada. Cuc goals by Matias Urbano(3) & Macnelly Torres.
Libertad 3-1 Liga Universitaria Quito - Lib goals by Dante Lopez, Juan Manuel Olivera & Nelson Cuevas. LDUQ goal by Alfonso Obregon.
-Wed Apr 9
Arsenal 2-3 Fluminense - Ars goals by Leonardo Biaggini & Juan Bottaro.
Guadalajara 3-2 Santos - Guad goals by Omar Arellano, Javier Rodriguez & Sergio Santana. Sant goals both by Kleber.
Cienciano 0-3 Flamengo - Flam goals by Renato Augusto, Toro & Juan.
-Thu Apr 10
Colo Colo 2-0 Maracaibo - Colo goals by Gustavo Biscayzacu & Lucas Barrios.
Sportivo Luqueno 1-3 Atletico Nacional - Luq goal by Marco Lazaga. AN goals by Carlos Villagra, Sergio Galvan Rey(PK) & David Cordoba.
Audax Italiano 1-0 Sao Paulo - Aud goal by Renato Ramos.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cucuta Deportivo join Atlas, Cruzeiro, Fluminense & LDU Quito in securing 5 of the 16 spots in the knock out rounds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

The Professional Footballers Association Player of the Year nominees have been announced. Here are the finalists:
Emmanuel Adebayor
Cesc Fabregas
Steven Gerrard
David James
Cristiano Ronaldo
Fernando Torres
They also hand out the Young Player of the Year. Here are those nominees:
Gabriel Agbonlahor
Cesc Fabregas
Micah Richards
Cristiano Ronaldo
Fernando Torres
Ashley Young
-No date was given as to when the awards winners will be announced.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA.com with a great article on Chelsea & Germany midfielder Michael Ballack who is attempting to fill in the only hole left on his resume - the Champions League crown. (And in case you were wondering - du Nord loves Ballack!)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As great a season as Fernando Torres is having for Liverpool, 29 goals in all competitions is great, you have to admit that when he scores 22 of those at their home Anfield stadium it does taint the picture a little.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has an article on Sunderland manager Roy Keane who is very close to keeping his team up in the Premiership for next season.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Reuters has quotes from an interview Thierry Henry gave to French newspaper L'Equipe, and he doesn't sing the praises of his time so far at Barcelona.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

La Gazzetta says this whole "Andriy Shevchenko could return to Milan" stuff is true.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League

Word from Barcelona is that Lionel Messi with be ready to face Man U in the Champions League 2 weeks from now! Yes!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Cup

Quarterfinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Thu Apr 10
Zenit 0-1 Leverkusen - Zenit advance 4-2 on aggregate - Lever goal by Dmitri Bulykin.
Sporting 0-2 Rangers - Rangers adv 2-0 on agg - Ran goals by Jean-Claude Darcheville & Steven Whittaker.
Getafe 3-3 Bayern - series tied 4-4 on agg, Bayern adv 3-1 on the away goals tied breaker - Get goals by Cosmin Contra, Javier Casquero & Braulio. Bay goals by Franck Ribery & Luca Toni(2).
PSV 0-2 Fiorentina - Fior adv 3-1 on agg - Fior goals both by Adrian Mutu.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com with the story of Bayern Munchen's near miracle comeback victory - Luca Toni scored a goal in the 120th minute to win it on aggregate. Great quotes from Oliver Kahn.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Semifinal 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 24
Bayern v Zenit
Rangers v Fiorentina
Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Thu May 1
Zenit v Bayern Munchen
Fiorentina v Rangers
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro Club Matches This Weekend

Scores & Matches:
-Sat Apr 12
Juventus v Milan - one of the great Italian rivalries.
Werder Bremen v Schalke - #4 v #2, but are only 1 point apart and fighting fiercely for Champions League spots.
-Sun Apr 13
Manchester United v Arsenal - With a win, Man U can bury Arse's chances of fighting for the title.
Inter v Fiorentina - #1 v #4 with both needing to win to grab bigger or hang on to season end prizes.
Bayer Leverkusen v Stuttgart - sitting in 6th & 5th and battling for the last UEFA Cup place.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

PSV can win with Dutch league with a win, or an Ajax loss or draw.
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World News

Nepal has rehired German Thomas Flath as their national team coach.

Let's Get A Little Closer News

Three of the four final teams in the Champions League are English. That is a big deal. Wasn't it just a couple of years ago where 3 of the 4 were from the same country?

~and~

The Independent newspaper in England with an article on the 1970 Brazilian World Cup winning team - some call the best team ever. Where are they now? See the South American News section below


CONCACAF Champions Cup

CONCACAF Champions Cup
Semifinals - 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Wed Apr 9
DC 2-1 Pachuca - Pach advance 3-2 on aggregate. DC goals by Rod Dyachenko & Franco Niell. Pach goal by Damian Alvarez.
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Post game notes and DC player ratings by Goff on his Soccer Insider blog.
Post game notes by Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner on his blog The Pitch.
Saprissa 3-0 Houston Sapr adv 3-0 on agg. Sapr goals by Armando Alonso, Celso Borges & Jairo Arrieta.
Match report from the Houston Chronicle.
Player analysis for Houston by Glenn Davis on his Soccer Hour blog. Davis points out only a couple of small negatives, but when you lose 3-0 there is plenty of fault to go around. On the other hand Davis was actually in CR so we gotta give him credit for that! I am jealous.
Minute-by-minute report and post game notes by Bernardo Fallas on his Soccer y Futbol blog.
More notes and analysis from Fallas on his blog.
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Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet on the elimination of both MLS teams last night.
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FIFA.com with an article on the wins by Saprissa & Pachuca.
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Pat Walsh of Goal.com says it was not as bad as it may have seemed for our MLS teams.
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My notes and thoughts on the 2 games:
DC-
-Didn't you just have a terrible feeling for DC with Damian Alvarez came in as the first sub for Pachuca? I did. That guy is so awesome, and I felt that coming back from an injury he had something to prove.
-The back 3 for DC of Namoff, Peralta & Martinez played their asses off. I loved how they handled the ball and started things from the back rather than just blasting the ball forward whenever they felt pressure. What a joy to watch.
-This team really misses Ben Olsen.
-Jaime Moreno had some good moments on the ball. His amazing control is fun too watch. But with him and Gallardo both out there the team looks slow.
Houston-
-Start with this - Saprissa has never lost a CONCACAF game at home. Not good odds for our boys.
-Houston was also going to have a tough time in Costa Rica without a lead from leg 1. In many ways they lost the series last week by dominating but not scoring goals at home, that is what 2 legged knockout soccer is all about.
-Having 4 regulars out with injury or suspension set Houston up for a long shot, then a leader like Craig Waibel goes out early with an injury to put you even further under a big rock ready to drop.
-Back up keeper Tony Caig was again a joke. The first Saprissa goal hit him in the chest and slid under him. I know it took a deflection, but it still went right under him. Brutal. The first goal he gave up last weekend against Dallas was eerily similar. Then on the 3rd goal last night he came waaaaaaay off his line for no damn reason and got torched, just like he was also off his line and got chipped by Dallas for a goal. That has to be some of the worst goalkeeping I have seen from MLS in a long time.
-Houston's offensive players kept looking for the perfect shot. When you are on the road, you have to shoot shoot shoot. Then shoot again. Quickly.
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UEFA Champions League

Quarterfinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Apr 8
Liverpool 4-2 Arsenal - the Liverpeople advance 4-3 on aggregate. - Liv goals by Sami Hyypia, Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard(PK) & Ryan Babel. Ars goals by Abou Diaby & Emmanuel Adebayor.
Chelsea 2-0 Fenerbahce - Chel adv 3-2 on agg. Chel goals by Michael Ballack & Frank Lampard.
-Wed Apr 9
Manchester United 1-0 Roma - ManU adv 3-0 on agg. ManU goal by Carlos Tevez.
Barcelona 1-0 Schalke (1-0) - Barc adv 2-0 on agg. Barc goal by Yaya Toure.
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The Guardian on Eric Cantona's visit to Manchester to see his old team in action.
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Daniele De Rossi missed a PK for Roma that could have put a lot more pressure on their game in Manchester, he called it “the worst moment of my career.” I hear ya.
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune says its now Barca v the English for the Champions League crown.
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Semifinal 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 22
Liverpool v Chelsea
-Wed Apr 23
Barcelona v Manchester United
Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Apr 29
Manchester United v Barcelona (-)
-Wed Apr 30
Chelsea v Liverpool (-)
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 3 Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 9
Kansas City 1-3 New England - KC goal by Jack Jewsbury(PK). NE goals by Jack Jewsbury(OG), Sainey Nyassi & Kenny Mansally.
-Attendance: 8,096
Match report by Bob Luder of the Kansas City Star.
Match report by Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe.
Match report from the Boston Herald written by the KC Star's Pete Grathoff.
Post game notes from Dell'apa.
-Sat Apr 12
San Jose v Chicago - 3:30pm central on FSC
Columbus v Chivas USA - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
New England v Colorado - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Kansas City v Houston - 7pm central on HDNet
Dallas v New York - 7:30pm central on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v DC - 8pm central on Direct Kick
Sun Apr 13
Los Angeles v Toronto - 2pm central on TeleFutura
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Chicago's Southtown Star with an article about an ongoing FBI investigation against the mayor of Bridgeview IL who helped fund the Fire's stadium. He has been accused o threatening a business into selling to secure land for the stadium. But the mayor got good news when one of the key witnesses against him recanted their story. The guy probably woke up with a horse head in his bed with him!
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CD CHIVAS USA

Has Chivas USA signed goalkeeper Dan Kennedy? He has recently been in the 2nd Division in Chile playing for Municipal of Iquique. Before that he played for the Puerto Rico Islanders of the USL First Division.
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COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch on the Crew's new Argentine defender Gino Padula, who is looking forward to being able to buy a hot roast beef sandwich, some tube socks, a leaf rake and a 75 pound bag of dog food at 4am in some giant faceless 24-hour mega-mart.
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Mitchell also has lots of new team notes on his Covering the Crew blog.
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FC DALLAS

Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree gives us his weekly Dallas Practice Observations.
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TeleFutura gave Dax McCarty a nickname - Flecha Roja - Red Arrow! Good one. From the FC Dallas Updates blog.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Now that KC has played their first 3 games on the season at home, winning 2 and losing 1, they get 1 last home match (fixed) and then have to play their next 6 games on the road, and do not get another home game until June 14. So not only are they playing in baseball park, but they also have to live with an insane schedule. They better win a lot of road games or the entire city will forget they exist.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

The official LA Galaxy blog tells that 3 of 7 Cuban Olympic team defectors are getting a tryout with the team.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Their young Costa Rican forward Argenis Fernandez has finally secured a work visa and is in the USA. He can now get back to training with the team and fighting for a spot on the field.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Several from Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer:
-Youngster Matt Kassel has come up through the MetroStars/Red Bulls youth teams and is now training with the senior team, and possibly going to sign a pro contract.
-Lewis gives his opinion on who the Red Bulls should consider hiring to run their soccer team now that Marc de Grandpre has stepped down.
-Scottish defender Chris Innes is on trial with the team, but his signing window is very short.
-With Jeff Parke suspended due to a Red Card, Carlos Mendes will probably starting at centerback this weekend.
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Juan Pablo Angel is suffering from a hamstring strain is about 50-50 for this weekend.
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REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News looks at the RSL attack in the first 2 games - 28 shots and 1 goal - not good.
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Edward reveals on the newspapers RSL blog that Nathan Sturgis will probably get the start over Carey Talley this weekend. I think its a great move.
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TORONTO FC

It's official, Amado Guevara is a Red.
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GENERAL

Jeff Bradley at MLSnet gives us his thoughts on team names in his column - First XI.
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Andrew Hush at Soccernet looks at the Over and Under paid of MLS.
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USL First Division News

The First Division season kicks off this Saturday!
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Matches & Scores:
-Sat Apr 12
Miami v Charleston
Vancouver v Montreal
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Americans In Europe

Marcus Hahnemann talks to the Reading website about his feelings toward his former team and American friends at Fulham who are all but officially doomed for relegation. Great stuff from Marcus. (thanks to BQ for this)
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Ravi Ubha of Soccernet talks to young goalkeeper Tally Hall about his first season as a professional with Esbjerg in Denmark.
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I wrote in more than a few emails yesterday how depressed I was feeling about Fulham having such a disastrous season and being so close to relegation. I hate it.
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Wednesday match results:
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - came off the bench in the 70th minute, but by then they were already down 0-3 at home to Barnsley. The score stayed that way. They are sitting in 5th place, which is a promotion playoff spot, with 4 games left to play. Sadly a win yesterday would have out them in 1st place.
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Mexico & FMF News

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle looks at the mirror opposite seasons that Mexican powers Club America & Guadalajara Chivas are having.
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FIFA.com wonders if interim Mexican national team head Chucho Ramirez is the man for the permanent job?
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South American News

The Independent with a truly fantastic article - they track down the member of the amazing 1970 Brazilian World Cup team! Wow!
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Gregory Sica at Sports Illustrated with stories on the original clubs of both Pele & Maradona - Santos & Boca Juniors.
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Copa Libertadores

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 8
Atlas 3-1 Boca Juniors - Atl goals by Gerardo Flores & Bruno Marioni(2). BJ goal by Sebastian Battaglia.
San Jose 2-4 Cucuta Deportivo - SJ goals by Luis Cerutti & Enrique Parada. Cuc goals by Matias Urbano(3) & Macnelly Torres.
Libertad 3-1 Liga Universitaria Quito - Lib goals by Dante Lopez, Juan Manuel Olivera & Nelson Cuevas. LDUQ goal by Alfonso Obregon.
-Wed Apr 9
Arsenal 2-3 Fluminense - Ars goals by Leonardo Biaggini & Juan Bottaro.
Guadalajara 3-2 Santos - Guad goals by Omar Arellano, Javier Rodriguez & Sergio Santana. Sant goals both by Kleber.
Cienciano 0-3 Flamengo - Flam goals by Renato Augusto, Toro & Juan.
-Thu Apr 10
Colo Colo v Maracaibo
Sportivo Luqueno v Atletico Nacional
Audax Italiano v Sao Paulo
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Cucuta Deportivo join Atlas, Cruzeiro, Fluminense & LDU Quito in securing 5 of the 16 spots in the knock out rounds.
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Group Stage Standings
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England News

The Guardian tell us why jaded & cynical fans & reporters love to hate Kevin Keegan, optimistic coach of Newcastle.
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The Independent with an article that tells us the investigation into financial corruption at Birmingham City is getting even more serious.
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The Independent also talks to former England player and manager Bobby Robson about the state of youth programs in their country.
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European News

With only 7 games left in the Spanish season talented Zaragoza are in the relegation zone and 4 points from safety. Can they right the ship?
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The rumor mill says Dennis Bergkamp could become the coach of Ajax. How will he travel with the team when he says he can't fly? On the other hand Bergkamp has been taking the classes needed to earn a coaching license.
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Jonathan Wilson of the Guardian tells us about the best of the best in the history of Red Star Belgrade or Crvena Zvezda Beograd as they are now known.
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The Independent with a story on some people in German & Spanish football thinking that England's idea to play league matches outside their own country just might be a very good idea.
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UEFA Cup

Quarterfinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Thu Apr 10
Zenit v Leverkusen (4-1)
Sporting v Rangers (0-0)
Getafe v Bayern (1-1)
PSV v Fiorentina (1-1)
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World News

Nigeria has rehired Shaibu Amodu as their national team coach. He previously ran the team in both 1996 and 2000.
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The Guardian with an article on a new era of football in Syria.