Winnin' Ain't Easy News

I am sorry to report that I have been without my DSL for most of the past 24 hours which leaves me woefully short today. Forgive me. Regular service should resume tomorrow. As you were.


MLS Scoreboard

Week 5
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 24
Dallas v New England - 7:30pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Apr 26
Toronto v Kansas City - 2:30pm central on Direct Kick
Columbus v Houston - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
DC v Salt Lake - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Chicago v Colorado - 7:30pm central on HDNet
Los Angeles v Chivas USA 9:30pm central on FSC
-Sun Apr 27
New York v San Jose - 2pm central on TeleFutura
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Out suspended this week:
-Eddie Robinson - Houston - 2nd of 3 games
-Mauricio Castro - New England - 1 game
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Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet previews the Thursday night ESPN2 game.
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MLS News

COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch with word on his blog Covering the Crew of another Cuban defector who is on a try out with the Crew.
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FC DALLAS

FC Dallas Updates has a video interview with players Abe Thompson & Blake Wagner previewing the Thursday night game against New England.
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DC UNITED

The official DCU blog, Behind the Badge, has a translation of a Q & A with Marcello Gallardo South American sports mag El Grafico.
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DC made it official and signed our old buddy from his Minnesota Thunder days, Liberian forward Grandpa Doe.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Big Apple Soccer reports some good news and bad: Injuries kept Juan Pablo Angel & Claudio Reyna out of training today. But Dane Richards & Hunter Freeman both training after recovering from bad injuries.
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REAL SALT LAKE

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News writes about RSL's ongoing search for the perfect forward combination.
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Edward also reports: In support of Earth Day Real Salt Lake will be wearing green jerseys for its US Open Cup game against San Jose next Wednesday. Cool.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

I wanted to mention that I thought Ronnie O'Brien also had a fantastic game last weekend in the teams first win. He also scored the first goal in history for the San Jose Earthquakes Mk. III.
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GENERAL

Steve Davis at Soccernet delivers up 10 highlights from Week 4.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune has a guest blogger today on The Red Card: Marcello Balboa.
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The Daily Mail compares Cristiano Ronaldo to Lionel Messi. To me it is no question who is better, Ronaldo has been sensational. But on the other hand if Messi was healthy, he would be a mile better than even Ronaldo.
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Soccernet with an article saying that although MLS has gotten better about setting rules and forcing teams to live within them, there are still big holes that need answers.
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USL First Division News

Paul Demko at the City Pages sports blog Balls has posted his Minnesota Thunder season preview! A MUST read.
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Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 24
Portland v Minnesota
-Fri Apr 25
Puerto Rico v Miami
Atlanta v Montreal
-Sat Apr 26
Carolina v Charleston
Portland v Seattle
Vancouver v Minnesota
-Sun Apr 27
Puerto Rico v Miami
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Team USA

I am going to see the USA play England at Wembley at the end of next month!
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Soccer In America

The Arizona Republic has an article that identifies the most important people to the growth of soccer in AZ. (thanks to Odeen who sent me this)
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Michael Lewis of Big Apple Soccer with an article on one time New York Cosmos coach Gordon Bradley, who is now suffering the effects of Alzheimer's.
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du Nord Americans In Europe Player Of The Week

Brad Friedel - Blackburn
Did everything humanly possible to keep Manchester United off the scoreboard, but after nearly 90 minutes of brilliance his defenders let him down for 5 seconds and a miracle goal was scored. Tough cookies. He was still magnificent. And let me ask you an honest question - Tell me who, right now, is a better goalkeeper in all of world football than Friedel?
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Americans In Europe

The Fulham team website has a mostly-non-football Q & A with Kasey Keller. (thanks to BQ for this one)
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South American News

FIFA.com with an article on River Plate goalkeeper Juan Pablo Carrizo who is all the rage in Argentina these days, and a player they hope becomes the answer to their national team revolving door of keepers.
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Copa Libertadores

Tuesday & Wednesday this week are the end of the Group Stage. The 2 legged knock out phase begins next week!
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Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Apr 22
Colo Colo 1-1 Atlas - Colo goal by Ricardo Rojas. Atl goal by Diego Colotto.
Boca Juniors 3-0 Maracaibo - Boca goals by Gabriel Paletta, Jesus Datolo & Juan Roman Riquelme.
-Apr 23
Sportivo Luqueno v Audax Italiano
Sao Paulo v Atletico Nacional
Flamengo v Coronel Bolognesi
Nacional v Cienciano
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Boca Juniors join River Plate, America, Santos, San Lorenzo, Estudiantes, Lanus, Cucuta Deportivo, Atlas, Cruzeiro, Fluminense & LDU Quito in securing 12 of the 16 spots in the knock out rounds.
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Group Stage Standings
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England News

Aleksander Hleb of Arsenal will miss the final 3 games of this season after being suspended for his involvement in a fracas against Reading. Could this be the end for him at Arsenal as well. There have been a lot of rumors that have him leaving the team.
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European News

FIFA.com talks to Bayern forward Luca Toni who says that some internal team strife earlier in the season has actually helped out in the long run.
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Pitch Invasion has an article on the problems of violence and racism in the game in Poland, but the author feels that reports are often overblown and wants to give another view.
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UEFA Champions League

Semifinal 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 22
Liverpool 1-1 Chelsea - Liv goal by Dirk Kuyt. Chel goal by John Arne Riise(OG).
-Wed Apr 23
Barcelona 0-0 Manchester United
Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Apr 29
Manchester United v Barcelona (0-0) - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
-Wed Apr 30
Chelsea v Liverpool (1-1) - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
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Disaster for the Liverpeople as they score an own goal 4 minutes into second half stoppage time and give Chelsea life with a 1-1 tie and the all important away goal (the first tie breaker). John Arne Riise is the man who put the ball in his own net in the dying seconds of the match. The second leg is next week at Chelsea.
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Andrew Wiebe at the Daily Kansan with an article on English strength in the CL.
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UEFA Cup

Semifinal 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 24
Bayern Munchen v Zenit
Rangers v Fiorentina
Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Thu May 1
Bayern Munchen v Zenit (-)
Fiorentina v Rangers (-)
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Bayern striker Luca Toni is suspended for the 1st leg match due to Yellow Card accumulation.
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The Final will be played May 14 in Manchester at the City of Manchester Stadium.
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2008 UEFA European Championship

The great folks at The Offside are doing tons of coverage as get we nearer to the tournament. They have also created this handy dandy finely detailed wall chart so you to can track the progress of your fave team(s).
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African News

An African Select All Star Team will take on Nigeria on June 26 to honor the career of Jay Jay Okocha!

Faster Than Greeeeeeeezed Lightning News

A very interesting new podcast from US Soccer - a weekly MLS Referee Review - experts and authorities sit down and talk about referee decisions from the weeks games. I know some of you are serious referee obsessives, so this is for you.


MLS Scoreboard

Week 5
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 24
Dallas v New England - 7:30pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Apr 26
Toronto v Kansas City - 2:30pm central on Direct Kick
Columbus v Houston - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
DC v Salt Lake - 6:30pm central on Direct Kick
Chicago v Colorado - 7:30pm central on HDNet
Los Angeles v Chivas USA 9:30pm central on FSC
-Sun Apr 27
New York v San Jose - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Out suspended this week:
-Eddie Robinson - Houston - 2nd of 3 games
-Mauricio Castro - New England - 1 game
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du Nord MLS Player Of The Week

Alejandro Moreno - Columbus Crew
This guy single handedly made 90 minutes miserable for the DC defense. We have all watched him play for 6 years now and know he is not the most talented guy out there. He is not big or fast or technically brilliant, but he just finds ways to get it done. Right place, right time - that is his style. That and the fact that year after year he is the most fouled player in the entire league. He got a goal and forced an own goal this week, and while neither were pretty, they did come from damn good team execution, of which he benefitted. So in some ways this should be shared by his teammates, but I just have to give Ale some real recognition. DC may hate you, but you are our player of the week.
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(I know Landon Donovan played great, and I have always loved him as a player, but he did not lead his team to victory. It's as simple as that.)
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Nick Firchau of the Southtown Star with an article on forward Chad Barrett who is not pleased with his performance v KC on Sunday.
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Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune on his blog The Red Card with notes from the Fire game last Sunday v KC and many interesting notes from Chicagoland.
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CD CHIVAS USA

Nick Green at the LA area Daily Breeze has a great interview and article on Mexican legend Claudio Suarez.
-A couple other notes left out of the article were posted on Green's 100 Percent Soccer blog.
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The goals official blog Dentro del Rebano has video of Sacha Kljestan visiting an LA sports TV show on KCAL.
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Former Colorado defender Dan Gargan is getting a tryout with CUSA.
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise starts getting us revved up for the LA derby this weekend.
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COLORADO RAPIDS

FC Rocky with Colorado post-game analysis from the loss to San Jose, and other notes of interest to you and I.
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It's also great to see that the Rocky Mountain News has upgraded it's soccer section to include a lot more news. Awesome.
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HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with his weekly Dynamo notes, especially the silence coming from the teams locker room.
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Fallas with even more Dynamo updates on his Soccer y Futbol blog.
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KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle with an article on forward Claudio Lopez, and what a great edition he has been to the team and league.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Grahame Jones of the LA Times has been writing much more frequently lately - nearly every day - but its mostly rehashed fluff from the newswires. Today however, there is one bit worth reading, and you have to go all the way to the end of the article - trouble brewing at the club management level in LA Galaxyville already this season? Hoo-hoo.
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Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise starts getting us revved up for the LA derby this weekend.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe calls the New England roster young and vibrant.
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Kyle McCarthy of the Boston Herald talks to Rev's boss Steve Nicol about being on the road down a man and still going for the win.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger says that while the Red Bulls defense is taking all the blame for ties and losses, a lack of quality in shooting could be just as big a culprit.
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Big Apple Soccer reports that the hamstring strain suffered by Juan Pablo Angel will most likely keep him out of the lineup this weekend v San Jose.
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Former Toronto defender Andrew Boyens of New Zealand is getting a tryout with New York.
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TORONTO FC

Nigel Reed of the CBC on his Extra Time blog gives us his thoughts on TFC after another win.
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Dean McNulty of the Sun says that TFC coach John Carver is not going to allow ANYONE at the team to get ahead of themselves after 2 wins.
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The Globe & Mail with a story on rookie defender Julius James who is getting healthy enough to be very close to taking the field.
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Morgan Campbell of the Star writes about the three new midfielder Rohan Ricketts, Amado Guevara & Lauren Robert who have done the trick in getting the offense going.
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GENERAL

MLS has named Landon Donovan as MLS Player Of The Week.
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German club Borussia Monchengladbach, who will be training in Denver in mid July will take on both Colorado and Dallas in friendlies while they are here.
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Oh, I almost forgot - The Commissioner Speaks. Donald B. Garber's new blog.
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Steve Davis at MLSnet with a Week 4 round up.
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Kyle McCarthy at Goal.com wraps up the weekends games.
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And Pat Walsh at Goal.com looks at the art of goalkeeping so far this season - terrible.
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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer America with an early season look at this years crop of imported players.
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MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Those Chivas USA & Ramon Morales stories are surfacing again. This does not excite me in the least. He is a fine player, but can only add so much.
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MLS Stadium Talk

Andrew Dixon at the US National Soccer Players Assoc writes about the societal impact of a new stadium in a city like Houston.
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MLS Expansion News

The Seattle Post Intelligencer with an article on the possibility that Kasey Keller might return from Europe to play in his home town next season.
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USL First Division News

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 24
Portland v Minnesota
-Fri Apr 25
Puerto Rico v Miami
Atlanta v Montreal
-Sat Apr 26
Carolina v Charleston
Portland v Seattle
Vancouver v Minnesota
-Sun Apr 27
Puerto Rico v Miami
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USA Olympic Team

Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet looks at the group the USA Olympic team was drawn into - A tough one.
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Soccer In America

John Feinstein of the Washington Post gives soccer in our country some respect for the present while not forgetting the past.
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Americans In Europe

Jemal Johnson and his team Milton Keynes Dons have now secured promotion from English League Two to League One, which is the 3rd division.
-Here is a cool fact about MK Dons - their shirt sponsor is Marshall Amplification - the preferred amplifier for any great rock n roll hero!
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Americans in Mexico

Luis Bueno on his Sideline Views blog tells us how it went last weekend for our boys who play south of the border.
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Mexico & FMF News

Graciela Resendiz of ESPN Deportes with a Premiera weekend round up.
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Copa Libertadores

Tuesday & Wednesday this week are the end of the Group Stage. The 2 legged knock out phase begins next week!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Apr 22
Colo Colo v Atlas
Boca Juniors v Maracaibo
-Apr 23
Sportivo Luqueno v Audax Italiano
Sao Paulo v Atletico Nacional
Flamengo v Coronel Bolognesi
Nacional v Cienciano
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

River Plate & America join Santos, San Lorenzo, Estudiantes, Lanus, Cucuta Deportivo, Atlas, Cruzeiro, Fluminense & LDU Quito in securing 11 of the 16 spots in the knock out rounds.
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Group Stage Standings
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European News

The Reuters Soccer Blog with a story on the poor German language skills of Bayern stars Franck Ribery and Luca Toni. I say who cares as long as they win!
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Some very important style information from my pal Ken the Keeper:
-Fiorentina goalkeeper Sebastian Frey shaves his facial hair into 2 upside down "F's - one for "Frey" and one for "Fiorentina"!
-And Fabrizio Miccoli of Palermo shaves one eyebrow.
Thank you Ken, very insightful.
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It is done - Ronald Koeman has been fired as coach at Valencia.
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Ben Lyttleton of the Guardian on the disaster at Paris St Germain.
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UEFA Champions League

Semifinal 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 22
Liverpool v Chelsea - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
-Wed Apr 23
Barcelona v Manchester United - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Tue Apr 29
Manchester United v Barcelona (-) - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
-Wed Apr 30
Chelsea v Liverpool (-) - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
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UEFA Cup

Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports looks at the 2nd year in a row for 3 English team in the CL semifinals.
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African News

South Africa has hired Brazilian Joel Santana as their new national team coach, replacing the just resigned Carlos Alberto Pareirra.

Boom-E-Rang News

American defender Oguchi Onyewu & his team Standard Liege have clinched the Belgian league championship! See details in the Big Euro Club Matches This Weekend section below


MLS Scoreboard

Week 4 Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 17
DC 1-2 Columbus - DC goal by Brian Namoff. Colu goals by Alejandro Moreno & Gonzalo Peralta(OG).
Attendance: 13329
(see match reports last Friday)
-Sat Apr 19
Toronto 1-0 Salt Lake - Tor goal by Laurent Robert.
Attendance: 20219
Match report by Larry Millson of the Globe & Mail.
New York 1-1 New England - NY goal by Jozy Altidore. NE goal by Jeff Larentowicz.
Attendance: 12,047
Match report by Stefan Bondy of the Herald News.
Colorado 0-2 San Jose - SJ goals by Ronnie O'Brien & Kei Kamara.
Attendance: 14,919
Match report by Brian Forbes of the Denver Post.
Los Angeles 2-2 Houston - LA goals both by Landon Donovan. Hou goals by Brad Davis & Franco Caraccio.
Attendance: 23,401
Match report by Phil Collin of the LA Daily News.
-Sun Apr 20
Chicago 0-1 Kansas City - KC goal by Jack Jewsbury.
Attendance: 17,121
Match report by Len Ziehm of the Chicago Sun Times.
Chivas USA 0-2 Dallas - Dal goals by Kenny Cooper & Abe Thompson.
Attendance: 10,237
Match report by Jaime Cardenas of the LA Times.
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Red Card Suspensions:
-Mauricio Castro - New England - Red Card for kicking New York player.
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Midfielder Lider Marmol who has been training with New York but who's rights are held by Chicago is finally heading to the Windy City to see if he wants to play there or not. If the answer is yes, then they need to work out a deal.
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CD CHIVAS USA

The 3 Cuban defectors who had been on trial with Los Angeles were not offered contracts, and will now begin tryouts with the City of Angels fake Mexican team.
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COLORADO RAPIDS

Colorado will host German club Borussia Monchengladbach during their preseason training - July 13-23. Gladbach will play games against MLS teams too.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Warning to rest of league: Do Not Piss Off Landon Donovan! After Houston defender Patrick Ianni sent LC flying with a hip check, it was almost as if Donovan wanted to score a dozen goals and rub them all in Ianni's face. He did the first one on a diving header, then stood over the prone Ianni screaming at him! Wow. Now let's see him get that kind of determination every week. And the exquisite service doesn't hurt either.
-Pic of Landy in yelling action, stolen from the official LA Galaxy team blog.
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Andrea Canales at Soccernet on the Bunkham-Donovan show.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Looks like the Rev's decided enough is enough with Joe Franchino and there shipped him off to LA on Friday for a low round draft pick. I hope JF can get his life together. But after the incident last weekend New England's patience has run out.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

I ran the text "Claudio Reyna" through the Babelfish Language Translator, and no matter which language I picked the translation always came up the same: "Injured Again".
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TORONTO FC

2 wins in a row has got to feel pretty great right now!
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GENERAL

Steve Davis at Soccernet with a Week 4 round up.
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MLS Conference Standings

Eastern Conference
10 Kansas City
9 Columbus
7 Chicago
7 New England
6 Toronto
4 New York
3 DC
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Western Conference
8 Dallas
6 Colorado
4 Salt Lake
4 Chivas USA
4 Los Angeles
3 San Jose
3 Houston
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MLS Golden Boot

5 Landon Donovan - Los Angeles
4 Kenny Cooper - Dallas
3 Alejandro Moreno - Columbus
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USL First Division News

Matches & Scores:
-Sat Apr 19
Charleston 1-1 Seattle
Miami 1-2 Montreal
Atlanta 1-1 Carolina
-Thu Apr 24
Portland v Minnesota
-Fri Apr 25
Puerto Rico v Miami
Atlanta v Montreal
-Sat Apr 26
Carolina v Charleston
Portland v Seattle
Vancouver v Minnesota
-Sun Apr 27
Puerto Rico v Miami
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USA Olympic Team

The USA was drawn into Group B (of 4 groups) for the opening rounds of the Olympics. Here is there game schedule:
Group B
-Tue Aug 7
USA v Japan
Netherlands v Nigeria
-Sun Aug 10
Nigeria v Japan
USA v Netherlands
-Wed Aug 13
Netherlands v Japan
USA v Nigeria
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US Soccer has quotes about the draw from USA coach Petr Nowak, and players Maurice Edu, Chris Seitz & Jozy Altidore.
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And here are the other 3 groups:

Group A
Argentina
Australia
Serbia & Montenegro
Cote D'Ivoire

Group C
China
New Zealand
Belgium
Brazil

Group D
Cameroon
South Korea
Italy
Honduras
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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 3-0 Northern Ireland - USA goals by Vincenzo Bernardo, Peri Marosevic & Ellis McLoughlin.
-Fri Apr 18
USA 0-4 Portugal
Match report from US Soccer.
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Not such a hot trip for Coach Tom & the Boyz. A loss to some complete unknowns, whooping a small country, and then getting polished off by the hosts. Ugh.
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Soccer In America

Associated Press has an article on the growth of soccer academies in America. Via Soccernet.
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Americans In Europe

How'd their weekend matches go:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - was not dress for a 2-0 loss at Porto.
-Bryan Arguez - Hertha Berlin - no games for the league this weekend.
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - no games for the league this weekend.
-Carlos Bocanegra - Fulham - dressed but did not play as they lost at home 0-2 to Liverpool.
-Michael Bradley - Heerenveen - played all 90 minutes of a 5-0 win over Excelsior. The win leaves them in 5th place of the league, and a spot in the Champions League playoffs where they take on Ajax in the first stage (2 legs).
-Adin Brown - Aalesunds - in goal as usual and beat HamKam 5-0 at home.
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - did not touch the field but the team won 1-2 on the road at Trelleborgs.
-Dan Califf - Aalborg - started and went the distance, tying at Esbjerg 1-1.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - no games for the league this weekend.
-Bobby Convey - Reading - back in the starting line up, played all 90 but lost 2-0 at Arsenal.
-Charlie Davies - Hammarby - started and lasted the full match but lost on the road 0-1 to Kalmar.
-Clint Dempsey - Fulham - started and went 90 but lost 0-2 at home to Liverpool.
-Jay DeMerit - Watford - warmed the bench in a 0-2 home loss to Crystal Palace.
-Joe Enochs - Osnabruck -no games for the league this weekend.
-Benny Feilhaber - Derby County - on the bench but did not play as they lost 2-1 at West Ham.
-Gabriel Ferrari - Sampdoria - did not dress for a nice 3-0 win over Udinese.
-Brad Friedel - Blackburn - starred for all 90 minutes as always but could only tie Manchester United 1-1 at home.
-Cory Gibbs - Charlton - did not dress and the team lost 1-0 at QPR.
-Clarence Goodson - Start - played all 90 and they won 2-0 at home over Alta.
-Joshua Grenier - Koblenz - no games for the league this weekend.
-Marcus Hahnemann - Reading - went all 90 but could not stop Arsenal, losing 2-0 on the road.
-Tally Hall - Esbjerg - did not play in a 1-1 home tie against Aalborg.
-Tim Howard - Everton - team did not play this weekend.
-Nate Jaqua - Rheindorf Altach - played all 90 but lost 3-0 at Rapid Vienna.
-Will John - Randers - did not play as the team beat Copenhagen 2-1 at home.
-Eddie Johnson - Fulham - was not in the game day roster as they lost 0-2 at home to Liverpool.
-Kasey Keller - Fulham - went the full 90 but lost 0-2 to Liverpool. Did not have a very good game either.
-Joseph Lapira - Nybergsund - started and went the full 90 but lost 3-1 at Haugesund.
-Eddie Lewis - Derby County - played the whole match but lost 2-1 at West Ham.
-Clint Mathis - Ergotolis - did not play as they got 3 much needed points from a 2-0 win over Xanthi. They have again moved out of the relegation zone.
-Brian McBride - Fulham - started and went 81 minutes in a losing effort, 0-2 at to the Liverpeople.
-Jay Needham - Alta - played all 90 but lost 2-0 at Start.
-Lee Nguyen - Randers - started and played the full match as they got a nice 2-1 home win over Copenhagen.
-Pat Noonan - Aalesunds - came on as a 61st minute sub as they beat HamKam 5-0 at home.
-Oguchi Onyewu - Standard - went all 90 winning 2-0 over , and winning the league too!
-Heath Pearce - Hansa Rostock - no games for the league this weekend.
-Matt Pickens - Queens Park Rangers - not even on the bench as they win 1-0 at home over Charlton.
-Troy Perkins - Valerenga - started and played the entire match as they tied with Rosenborg at home 1-1.
-Luis Robles - Kaiserslautern - no games for the league this weekend.
-Frank Simek - Sheffield Wednesday - still injured, and the team lost at Blackpool 2-1.
-Jonathan Spector - West Ham - did not dress for the teams 2-1 home win over Derby County.
-Neven Subotic - Mainz - no games for the league this weekend.
-Danny Szetela - Brescia - lost at Chievo Verona 3-0.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - did not suit up for a 1-2 win at Trelleborgs.
-Brian Waltrip - Molde - came on as a 71st minute sub and the team got a point on the road 1-1 at Lillestrom.
-Cam Weaver - Haugesund - started, played all 90, scored his teams first goal, and won 3-1 at home over Nybergsund.
-Brian West - Fredrikstad - beat Bodo Glimt at home 2-0.
-Quentin Westberg - Troyes - on the bench but saw no action as the team tied at Niort 0-0.
-Jeremiah White - Aarhus - went the whole 90 and got his teams 3rd goal winning 3-1 at home over Lyngby.
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - no games for the league this weekend.
-Sal Zizzo - Hannover - no games for the league this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

American Soccer Daily is reporting that Dan Califf has agreed to a contract for next season with his current clubs (Aalborg) rivals Midtjylland.
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Andrew Hush at Soccernet with an article on Charlie Davies and his Swedish club Hammarby.
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Copa Libertadores

Tuesday & Wednesday this week are the end of the Group Stage. The 2 legged knock out phase begins next week!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
-Apr 22
Colo Colo v Atlas
Boca Juniors v Maracaibo
-Apr 23
Sportivo Luqueno v Audax Italiano
Sao Paulo v Atletico Nacional
Flamengo v Coronel Bolognesi
Nacional v Cienciano
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

River Plate & America join Santos, San Lorenzo, Estudiantes, Lanus, Cucuta Deportivo, Atlas, Cruzeiro, Fluminense & LDU Quito in securing 11 of the 16 spots in the knock out rounds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Goalkeeper David James writing for the Observer tells us what a relegation battle does to your nerves and guts.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul Wilson in the Observer looks at the Other 16 of the Premiership, and other topics.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Independent looks at the Chelsea v Liverpool Champions League matchup - will it be great or terrible to watch? I figure it will be a little of both.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Guillem Balague of The Times with an article on Barcelona's quietly fantastic midfielder Xavi Hernandez.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Duncan Castle of the Observer looks at Barcelona - the crumbling of a greatly talented team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Telegraph on the magic of Barcelona's stadium Camp Nou.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Simon Kuper of the Financial Times shares his knowledge of the Nou Camp with us.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with Michael Laudrup coach of Spanish critics darlings Getafe.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sid Lowe of the Guardian writes about Valencia - they just won the Copa del Rey, so why is their coach Ronald Koeman about to be fired?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Francesco Totti's season is over for Roma as he blew out his knee this weekend in the teams 1-1 draw with Livorno.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Football Italia with a round up of Week 34 in Serie A.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Phil Ball at Soccernet goes to Santander's infamous "Sardine Can" stadium to see Real Madrid step closer to another title. This is the stadium where the USA will take on Spain in early June.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

UEFA Champions League

Semifinal 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 22
Liverpool v Chelsea - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
-Wed Apr 23
Barcelona v Manchester United - live at 1:30pm central on ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro League Cup Competitions

Bayern Munchen win the 2008 DFB Pokal Final!!
-Sat Apr 19
Borussia Dortmund 1-2 Bayern Munchen - in extra time - Dort goal by Mladen Petric. Bay goals both by Luca Toni.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro Club Matches This Weekend

-Sat Apr 19
Barcelona 0-0 Espanyol - a dead even draw at the Barcelona derby leaves Barca 11 points off the pace and back to 3rd place a point behind Villarreal.
-Sun Apr 20
Aston Villa 5-1 Birmingham - a serious thumping in the Birmingham derby.
Porto 2-0 Benfica - two of the big old clubs in Portugal did battle, but little was on the line, and it showed in Benfica's case.
Standard Liege 2-0 Anderlecht - #1 beats #2 in Belgium and secures the league title with 3 matches still to play (the lead is an insurmountable 10 points). This is Standard's first title in 25 years!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Standard wins the Belgian league title!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The season went down to the final game in Holland and PSV & Ajax both won leaving the title to PSV who were already leading by 3 points.
-Sun Apr 20
Vitesse Arnhem 0-1 PSV Eindhoven
Ajax Amsterdam 5-1 Heracles Almelo
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

PSV wins the Netherlands Eredivisie league title!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Eredivisie does not give their #2 team an automatic Champions League spot - teams 2-5 playoff for it. Here is that schedule:
CL Qualifier Semifinal 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Thu May 1
Heerenveen v Ajax
Twente v NAC Breda
CL Qualifier Semifinal 2nd Leg Matches & Scores:
NAC Breda v Twente
Ajax v Heerenveen
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

African News

As predicted last week, South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Pareirra has quit the team.

Br-r-r-r-up brup brup brup News

Columbus coach Sigi Schmid after beating DC last night: "I was never worried. There was a German pope in town who gave a German Mass. With me being a German coach, I was never worried at all."

~and~

I saw a great new car commercial last night featuring the USA Women: They all climb into these minivan/car type deals and head off down the road. They are taking foreign language lessons as they drive. Then we see them walk into a stadium, which looks down to see the Brazilian women training. One American woman yells out in Portuguese "We want a rematch", and the Brazilian yells back "Let's Go!" Really good stuff



MLS Scoreboard

Week 4 Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 17
DC 1-2 Columbus - DC goal by Brian Namoff. Colu goals by Alejandro Moreo & Gonzalo Peralta(OG).
Match report by Steven Goff of the Washington Post.
Match report by John Haydon of the Washington Times.
Post game notes & DC player ratings by Goff on his Soccer Insider blog.
Post game notes from Shawn Mitchell at the Columbus Dispatch.
Post game notes by Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner on his blog The Pitch.
Game highlights & post game video interview with Alejandro Moreno from ESPN.
-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
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My thoughts on the game:
-At one point around the 60th minute on last nights game I hit the pause button, rewound and played, over and over again, because I was not sure what I was seeing. I hit pause again and began to count. The camera was perfectly aimed at the Columbus goal and you could see the entire 18 yard box in the frame. DC had 4 attackers in the box, but Columbus had 9 players and the goalkeeper in the box. 9! NINE! That only leaves one other player somewhere up field.
-How about the Jesus hair on those two outside backs for Columbus - Hejduk & Padula - true old school hair farmers!
-Luciano Emilio looks really slow out there. Remember when he complained about not getting a bump in salary after having a great season this year. I wonder if he is on a subliminal slow down strike.
-The announcers JP Dellacamera & John Harkes are pretty good. And they work well together.
-Oh, and JP, it's William Hesmer, not Will. Just ask him.
-Columbus looked as good as any Sigi Schmid team will. No there are no pretty. But they are effective. Like LA in 2002.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Beau Dure of USA Today pulled off quite a feat last night on his blog The Netminder. He tracked every touch from both Gallardo & Schelotto. Every single touch. See the results here. Wow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet previews the weekend matches (the second half of the article).
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Out suspended this weekend:
-Eddie Robinson - Houston - 1st of 3 games
-Sacha Kljestan - Chivas USA - 1 game
-Francesco Mendoza - Chivas USA - 1 game
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune says forward Andy Herron is going to work his hardest to get into the Fire first 11.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Arroyave on his Red Card blog gives us a little update on the pathetic tug-of-war that Chicago and New York are playing with the career of Lider Marmol.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLORADO RAPIDS

Brian Forbes at the Denver Post with an article on local boy Stephen Keel who had to make the team the hard way - an open tryout, and has now become a solid promising starter.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

FC Dallas Updates has a really cool photo of a new kit from their Brazilian partner team Atletico Paranaense - the news new third kit is a tribute to FCD!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe talks to Rev's star defender Michael Parkhurst about the game in the Meadowlands this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

It is looking like striker Juan Pablo Angel should be ready to go against New England on Saturday night.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Michael Lewis at Big Apple Soccer with his notes, thoughts and opinions on several NYRB & related topics - The Offside Remarks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Herald News soccer blog called The International Fixture has words from Claudio Reyna about MLS's place in the world and new coach Juan Carlos Osorio.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

Great video from AYL Soccer with both Ian Joy & Kenny Deuchar answering the same questions - split screen style. Always a great feature, and with these two guys its even better than usual.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

James Edward of the Deseret Morning News with an article on RSL's young midfielder Nathan Sturgis who got the start last weekend and made the coach look brilliant with his performance.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Brain Forbes of the Denver Post with an article on Colorado Springs native & Equakes defender James Riley as he goes home to play with his new team against the Rapids this weekend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer Spin has a Q & A with Equakes midfielder Ronnie O'Brien - and - assisntant coach Ian Russell.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

The Sun with an article on Amado Guevara who insists that he is not the locker room cancer that saw 2 other MLS teams offload him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Still haven't heard confirmation on whether or not TFC has signed 33 year old defender Olivier Tebily of Cote d'Ivoire. He has spent the majority of his career at Niort in France, early on, and later at Birmingham City in England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Larry Millson of the Globe & Mail talks to the teams newest midfielder, Englishman Rohan Ricketts. He last played for Championship Division team Barnsley.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Shaka Hislop at the Guardian with his regular weekly MLS column.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ives Galarcep at Soccernet looks at the moves MLS teams made this offseason and who has benefitted/failed the most so far.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I know you are all getting excited for the debut of the blog from MLS Commissioner Donald L Garber. "The Commissioner Speaks", indeed. I wonder if it will be a real blog where we learn a little about Don, or just some official blab. Probably the later. Oh well.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Former MLS Player News

Mike H at My Soccer Blog has a linked to an interview with a huge du Nord favorite from a few seasons back - Colorado & Israel defender Dedi Ben Dayan! He currently plays for Netanya. I loved that guy and was really bummed when he left. Huge thanks to Mike for finding this one!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Apr 17
Portland 1-0 Puerto Rico
-Sat Apr 19
Charleston v Seattle
Miami v Montreal
Atlanta v Carolina
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Seattle Times previews the 08 season for the reigning league champion Sounders.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer News

US Soccer has an audio interview with DaMarcus Beasley. He has been out of the Rangers lineup for several months now due to a bad knee injury.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA Olympic Team

The draw for the initial group stage of the Olympic tournament will happen on Sunday morning our time, from Beijing.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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 3-0 Northern Ireland - USA goals by Vincenzo Bernardo, Peri Marosevic & Ellis McLoughlin.
-Fri Apr 18
USA v Portugal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Thursday games to watch for:
-Gregg Berhalter - 1860 Munich - did not suit up due to a hip injury as the team won 2-1 at home against Wehen.
-Colin Burns - Ljungskile - did not plays as they won at home 1-0 over Elfsborg
-Tim Howard - Everton - played all 90 but lost 0-1 at home to Chelsea.
-Etchu Tabe - Ljungskile - did not play as the team won at home 1-0 over Elfsborg
-Josh Wolff - 1860 Munich - started and played 65 minutes as they won 2-1 at home over Wehen.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

Here is the top of the Premiera table with only 3 rounds left to play:
29 Guadalajara Chivas
26 San Lius
25 Cruz Azul
24 Santos Laguna
23 Toluca
22 Chiapas Jaguares
21 Pachuca
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Club America are in last place, by a mile, with only 8 points. Oof.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

South American News

Pitch Invasion has a fantastic article from a Toronto FC fan who was in Peru and went to a Copa Libertadores match. Fantastic article, with some very cool picture.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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 5-1 Cruzeiro - BRP goals by Miguel Loaiza, Alvaro Pintos(2), Isidro Candia & Luis Gatty Ribeiro. Cruz goal by Marcelo Martins.
San Lorenzo 3-0 Caracas - SL goals by Gonzalo Bergessio, Vicente Rosales(OG) & Andres Silvera.
San Jose 0-3 Guadalajara Chivas - Guad goals by Sergio Avila(2) & Gonzalo Pineda.
Santos 2-1 Cucuta Deportivo - Sant goals by Kleber Pereira & Mariano Tripodi. Cuc goal by Lin Carlos Henry.
Libertad 1-2 Arsenal - Lib goal by Nelson Cuevas. Ars goals by Juan Bottaro & Javier Yacuzzi.
-Thu Apr 17
Universidad Catolica 2-0 America - Cato goals by Gary Medel & Dario Bottinelli.
River Plate 5-0 Univ San Martin - RP goals by Sebastian Abreu(3), Radamel Falcao Garcia & Andres Rios.
Fluminense 1-0 LDU Quito - Flum goal by Cicero.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

River Plate & America join Santos, San Lorenzo, Estudiantes, Lanus, Cucuta Deportivo, Atlas, Cruzeiro, Fluminense & LDU Quito in securing 11 of the 16 spots in the knock out rounds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fiorentina has come out and said they want to buy troubled forward Adriano from Inter. He is currently on a loan/rehab in Sao Paolo, and has been scoring goals. He has also been seen out partying.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

The Independent has an interview with Man City boss Sven Goren Erickson.
-And a few extra tidbits from the interview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Guardian talks to Sunderland manager Roy Keane who goes on and on about his high regard for Newcastle coach Kevin Keegan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

I think this picture from The Telegraph perfectly pictures the Old Firm derby.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com has a Q & A with Marseille Eric Gerets.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Even though both Milan and Inter have talked about building their own new stadiums lately, they both just signed new 5 year leases to play at their current shared home the Stadio Guiseppe Meazza aka San Siro.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro League Cup Competitions

DFB Pokal Final
-Sat Apr 19
Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munchen
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Big Euro Club Matches This Weekend

-Sat Apr 19
Barcelona v Espanyol - the Barcelona derby
-Sun Apr 20
Aston Villa v Birmingham - the Birmingham derby
Porto v Benfica - two of the big old clubs in Portugal due battle, but little is on the line.
Standard Liege v Anderlecht - #1 v #2 in Belgium
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The final game of the season in Holland and PSV lead Ajax by 3 points. But PSV do not have a better goal differential at +40, while Ajax's is at +45.
-Sun Apr 20
Vitesse Arnhem v PSV Eindhoven
Ajax Amsterdam v Heracles Almelo
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Top 5 Goal Scorers In Each Of Europe’s Big Leagues

-La Liga-
23 Luis Fabiano - Sevilla
18 Daniel Guiza - Mallorca
16 Raul Gonzalez - Real Madrid
15 Diego Milito - Zaragoza
14 Samuel Eto'o - Barcelona
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Bundesliga-
20 Luca Toni - Bayern Munich
15 Mario Gomez - Stuttgart
14 Kevin Kuranyi - Schalke
13 Mladen Petric - Borussia Dortmund
12 Diego - Werder Bremen
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Serie A-
19 Marco Borriello - Genoa
18 David Trezeguet - Juventus
16 Adrian Mutu - Fiorentina
16 Antonio Di Natale - Udinese
15 Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Inter Milan
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Eredivisie-
33 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar - Ajax
21 Blaise N'Kufo - Twente
17 Robin Nelisse - Utrecht
16 Michael Bradley - Heerenveen
16 Luis Suarez - Ajax
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Premiership-
28 Cristiano Ronaldo - Manchester United
22 Fernando Torres - Liverpool
20 Emmanuel Adebayor - Arsenal
15 Roque Santa Cruz - Blackburn
14 Robbie Keane - Tottenham
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Ligue Un-
17 Karim Benzema - Lyon
15 Mamadou Niang - Marseille
14 Fernando Cavenaghi - Bordeaux
13 Djibril Cisse - Marseille
13 Bafetimbi Gomis - St Etienne
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2008 UEFA European Championship

The Reuters Soccer Blog looks at the directives referees have been given for the upcoming tournament. Diving is a big one.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

The most recent entry in Simon Kuper's look at Politics and Football at Channel 4 is very timely - Silvio Berlusconi, owner of Milan and now again Prime Minister of Italy. This is a great series.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

African News

Leila Parreira, wife of South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira told a Brazilian newspaper yesterday that her husband plans to quit this job within the next few weeks. Stay tuned.

What A Machine She Ha(s/d) News

Discussions on building a new stadium between the city of Houston and the Dynamo soccer team took a wicked turn yesterday when the cities Mayor told the public about a letter he had seen from MLS honcho Donald B Garber to the team encouraging them to put more pressure on the city to try and get a financial deal done. Garber even says that the league would move the team again. Could this thing get really ugly now? Probably! See more in the Stadium Talk section below

~and~

The Red Card blog has a guest blogger today - Jimmy Conrad!


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
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven Goff of the Washington Post previews DC United.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Haydon of the Washington Times previews DC.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner previews DC for tonight.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Dell'apa at Soccernet on the face off tonight between Argentine giants Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbia) & Marcello Gallardo (DC). It's a mini Boca Juniors v River Plate derby.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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

MLS News

CD CHIVAS USA

Luis Bueno on his Sideline Views blog says all these players are injured and may not be ready for action this weekend: Alecko Eskandarian, Maykel Galindo, Ante Razov, Claudio Suarez, Lawson Vaughn & Raphael Wicky. That's kinda ridiculous. Plus, these two, Sacha Kljestan & Francisco Mendoza, are suspended due to Red Cards.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLORADO RAPIDS

George Tanner at the FC Rocky blog says Bouna Coundoul could be gone for a month (late May to late June) for Senegal World Cup qualifiers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Brian Forbes at the Denver Post does a Q & A with Coundoul.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLUMBUS CREW

Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch takes a look at Crew player salaries.
-Mitchell with more good salary stuff & other Crew notes on his Covering The Crew blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News with an article on FCD's new Brazilian midfielder Andre Rocha.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC Dallas Updates has video of coach Morrow and goalkeeper Dario Sala talking about the upcoming game at Chivas USA on Sunday night.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

DC UNITED

Craig Stouffer of the Washington Examiner on his blog The Pitch chats with former Uniteder John Harkes who is now an ESPN commentary guy, in DC for tonight's game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Andrew Dixon at the US National Soccer Players Assoc gives his thoughts on the team he calls the class of MLS - DC United.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle on his Soccer y Futbol blog has some new notes about the Dynamo player health, and then lots of words on the new stadium developments. See much more below in the Stadium Talk section.
-A second update from later in the day - more on players getting try outs and health issues.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Dos Mundos in KC has an article on Zards rookie Roger Espinoza.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Andrea Canales at Soccer 365 talks to the Cuban defectors who are getting a tryout with the Galaxy.
-Here are some more quotes that were not used in the full article - from her blog Sideline Views.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

Not good news at all! Two Rev's players went to the Red Sox v Yankees game in Boston a few days ago, sporting Yankees gear, reportedly quite drunk, and made fools of themselves to the point that security escorted them out of the stadium. There were rumors of "public urination" being involved but that appears to be untrue. The first player identified was midfielder Gary Flood, and now the second player is thought to be Joe Franchino. I am saddened to hear this about Franchino because there have been whispers of his alcohol problems & trips to rehabilitation centers in the past. Not good for these two.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Bradley at MLSnet with his First XI - this week on the New England v New York rivalry.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Soccer By Ives reports that Juan Pablo Angel will most likely be ready to play on Saturday against New England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Galarcep also talks to NYRB youth team prospect Matt Kassel who has just turned down a developmental contract with the senior team. Really good stuff.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jozy Altidore checks in on the New York Times Goal blog about his busy schedule, last weeks clunker of a game, and the upcoming game against New England.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Center Line Soccer says SJE is chasing after Mexican attacking midfielder Zinha!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jay Hipps at CSL also gives us the latest from Equakes owner Lew Wolff and the teams stadium designs.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Larry Millson of the Globe & Mail gives us a little inside look into the coaching tools & techniques favored by TFC boss John Carver.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

After the success of the Mexico v China game last night in Seattle (see Mexico section below for details), Seattle Sounders FC are going to stage another big international game this time featuring Brazil v Canada. No exact date has been set yet.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Rumor City - Don't Tease Me Bro!

Will Porto be headed to North America to play a couple of friendlies after their current season ends?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Stadium Talk

The Houston Chronicle is all over the new story in the ongoing negotiations to build a new stadium for the Dynamo. Its getting wild.
-The Houston Mayor tells the public about a letter he has seen that could have bad repercussions in Houston if a stadium deal is not struck very soon.
-The paper got a hold of the 2 page letter. Here it is for your perusal - Page 1 - and - Page 2.
-Bernardo Fallas at the Chron says fans of the team and the people of Houston will not take kindly to Garber's words of possible relocation.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The team released a statement on their website saying that this letter was never intended for the public.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And while all that madness is going on the Houston Business Journal reports that the team is narrowing down their choices of designers for that stadium.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USA U20 News

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

The team balanced things out on Wednesday night with a big win over Northern Ireland. That's more like it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
USA 1-3 Cape Verde Islands - USA goal by Brek Shea.
Match report from US Soccer.
-Wed Apr 16
USA 3-0 Northern Ireland - USA goals by Vincenzo Bernardo, Peri Marosevic & Ellis McLoughlin.
Match report from US Soccer.
-Fri Apr 18
USA v Portugal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer has a great interview with Fox Soccer Report anchor Mitch Peacock.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Ravi Ubha at Soccernet talks to an American in England that I rarely acknowledge (much to reader Bart's chagrin) - he is forward Jemal Johnson of League Two team MK Dons. He has been scoring quite a few goals, they just one a tournament of lower division teams, and they are very close to promotion to League One [FIXED]. Cool.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wednesday games to watch for:
-Freddy Adu - Benfica - did not make the bench and the team lost 5-3 in the Taca de Portugal (League Cup) Semifinal derby match against Lisbon rivals Sporting.
-Steve Cherundolo - Hannover - played all 90 minutes in a nice 1-3 road win at Borussia Dortmund.
-Joshua Grenier - Koblenz - did not play in his teams 3-2 home win over Freiburg.
-Sal Zizzo - Hannover - did not suit up for a 1-3 win 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 in Seattle
Mexico 1-0 China - goal by Cesar Villaluz.
Match report from the Seattle Times.
Match report from the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
Post game notes from the Times.
Post game notes from the PI.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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 5-1 Cruzeiro - BRP goals by Miguel Loaiza, Alvaro Pintos(2), Isidro Candia & Luis Gatty Ribeiro. Cruz goal by Marcelo Martins.
San Lorenzo 3-0 Caracas - SL goals by Gonzalo Bergessio, Vicente Rosales(OG) & Andres Silvera.
San Jose 0-3 Guadalajara Chivas - Guad goals by Sergio Avila(2) & Gonzalo Pineda.
Santos 2-1 Cucuta Deportivo - Sant goals by Kleber Pereira & Mariano Tripodi. Cuc goal by Lin Carlos Henry.
Libertad 1-2 Arsenal - Lib goal by Nelson Cuevas. Ars goals by Juan Bottaro & Javier Yacuzzi.
-Thu Apr 17
Universidad Catolica v America
River Plate v Univ San Martin
Fluminense v LDU Quito
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Santos & San Lorenzo join Estudiantes, Lanus, Cucuta Deportivo, Atlas, Cruzeiro, Fluminense & LDU Quito in securing 9 of the 16 spots in the knock out rounds.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Stage Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Sky Sports has the latest on Liverpool's ownership-management wars from one of the owners Tom Hicks. It was ugly, and it just keeps getting worse. Includes video. Good (but sad) stuff here.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Times has the reply from Liverpeople team Prez Rick Parry.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

Ajax won 1-2 at Groningen last night meaning that they are still just 3 points behind Dutch Eredivisie leaders PSV and that the season will go down to the last game again this year. Last year the league was a 3 way tie and the title was given to PSV on goal differential! Here are the two big final games of the 07/08 season to watch:
-Sun Apr 20
Vitesse Arnhem v PSV Eindhoven
Ajax Amsterdam v Heracles Almelo
-PSV have a goal differential of +40, but Ajax's is +45.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Euro League Cup Competitions

Valencia win the Copa del Rey!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Copa del Rey- Final
Match & Score:
-Wed Apr 16
Getafe 1-3 Valencia
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Coppa Italia- Semifinals
1st leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Apr 16
Inter 0-0 Lazio
Roma 1-0 Catania
2nd leg Matches & Scores (with first leg scores included):
-Wed May 7
Lazio v Inter (0-0)
Catania v Roma (0-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-Coupe de France- Quarterfinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
Amiens 1-0 Dijon
Lyon 1-0 Metz
-Wed Apr 16
Bordeaux 0-0 Sedan Ardennes - Sedan win 4-3 on Penalty Kicks.
Carquefou 0-1 Paris St Germain
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-Taca de Portugal- Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Apr 15
Vitoria Setubal 0-3 Porto
-Wed Apr 16
Sporting 5-3 Benfica
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-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 1-1 Anderlecht - Adn adv 2-1 on agg.
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DFB Pokal Final
-Sat Apr 19
Borussia Dortmund v Bayern Munchen
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Big Euro Club Matches This Week

The Old Firm derby last night:
Celtic 2-1 Rangers
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Celtic's big win brings them within 1 point of Rangers at the top of the league.
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FIFA Scandal News

Ben Knight of the Toronto Globe & Mail's On Soccer blog with comments on Sepp Blatter's plan to impose nationality quota's on leagues around the world.
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World News

Jonah Freedman at Sports Illustrated with his brand new World Club Soccer Power Rankings!
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UEFA has a published a dictionary of all football terminology. Check it out. (Thanks to Brian for this)