Hello Hooray Let The Show Begin News

A report by the Tampa Tribune in Florida says the Tampa Bay Rowdies will be back next season, playing in the USL First Division!

~and~

Barbados captain Norman Forde commenting on last Sunday's 8-0 loss to the USA: "I have never been this down. Since we returned Monday, I have not even left home. I didn't expect we would be so badly beaten." See the full article in the CONCACAF News section below.


Team USA

2nd Round 2nd leg CONCACAF World Cup qualifying Match & Score (includes score from first leg):
-Sun Jun 22
Barbados v USA (0-8)
Kensington Oval in Bridgetown Barbados
TV - 2pm central on ESPN Classic
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The Associated Press with a story on defender Heath Pearce.
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The team is training in Miami, even though we don't know who is on the team yet.
-But if you go to the teams blog (below) you can clearly see Salt Lake goalkeeper Chris Seitz and Brescia midfielder Danny Szetela with the team in training photos. Dallas defender Drew Moor will be on the squad too now.
-The roster will not be released until Friday.
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The official team blog.
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 13
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jun 18
New England v New York - 6:30pm on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v San Jose - 8pm on Direct Kick
-Thu Jun 19
Chivas USA v Chicago - 9:30pm on ESPN2
-Sat Jun 21
Toronto v Kansas City - 2:30pm on Direct Kick
New York v Dallas - 6:30pm on FSC
Colorado v Houston - 8:30pm on HDNet
Salt Lake v New England - 8:30pm on Direct Kick
Los Angeles v Columbus - 9:30pm on Direct Kick
-Sun Jun 22
DC v San Jose - 2pm on TeleFutura
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MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
26 New England (13)
22 Columbus (12)
20 Toronto (12)
19 Chicago (11)
16 DC (13)
15 New York (11)
12 Kansas City (11)
Western Conference
20 Los Angeles (12)
17 Houston (13)
16 Dallas (13)
15 Colorado (12)
15 Salt Lake (12)
14 Chivas (12)
10 San Jose (11)
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Luis Arroyave of the Tribune with an article on the difficulty getting Brian McBride on the Chicago roster. Toronto has first shot at his rights, and want a very high price to let him go.
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Orrin Schwarz of the Daily Herald with some Fire updates. (scroll down)
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Nick Firchau of the Southtown Star takes a look back at the Ante Razov's days in Chicago.
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FC DALLAS

Dallas plays their first game under new head coach Schellas Hyndman on Saturday night in New York.
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FC Dallas Updates with video of the press conference introducing the new boss.
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Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree with his First Impressions of the new coach.
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Both Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News and Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram covered the introduction on Hyndman.
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DC UNITED

Dan Steinberg of the DC Sports Bog takes us to a DCU haircut showdown.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post says DC is working on a new contract for striker Luciano Emilio, who has had an offer from at least one Mexican team.
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Goff on his blog Soccer Insider gives us some more info that did not make it into his great article on Santino Quaranta.
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NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION

John Connolly of the Boston Herald previews tonight's match with New York.
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Shalrie Joseph who lead his native Grenada to a surprise 2-2 tie with Costa Rica in World Cup Qualifying last weekend will play for the Rev's tonight, then rejoin Grenada for the 2nd leg match.
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe previews tonight as well.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Brian Lewis of the NY Post says the Red Bulls will change their lineup again tonight.
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Stefan Bondy of the Herald News with an article on midfielder Seth Stammler.
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REAL SALT LAKE

Jack Bell of the New York Times talks to Scottish forward Kenny Deuchar about the move to the United States. And other world soccer news.
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Michael C Lewis of the Tribune previews tonight's home game against San Jose.
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The Deseret News previews to.
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The Deseret News soccer blog ponders what formation the home team might use tonight.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

The Mercury News previews tonight’s start of a month on the road for the team.
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Embele Awipi of the Salinas Californian says LA striker Edson Buddle is Equake fans newest villain.
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Ann Killion of the Mercury News tells us just how big the appearance by Beckham was in the Bay Area. He drew more than the Oakland A's last playoff game.
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Center Line Soccer previews the game tonight, saying flank play could be the key to success.
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GENERAL

Andrew Hush at Soccernet with his midweek notes on MLS and USA soccer stuff.
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Pete Grathoff of the Kansas City Star with an article on former Wizards player Chris Henderson who is now the Technical Director for Seattle. And a few other soccer notes.
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MLS Rookie Of The Year

Here's our current list of contenders, in alphabetical order:
-Ely Allen - Los Angeles Galaxy
-Anthony Beltran - Real Salt Lake
-Danleigh Borman - New York Red Bulls
-Kheli Dube - New England Revolution
-Sean Franklin - Los Angeles Galaxy
-Chance Myers - Kansas City Wizards
-Luke Sassano - New York Red Bulls
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USL First Division News

Minnesota Thunder

The Thunder announced yesterday that they will be playing a friendly against English Championship division team Burnley on July 15 at their home field in Blaine. Here is what the Burnley coach had to say about his teams preseason in America.
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USL First Division Standings

22 Vancouver (11)
20 Charleston (11)
18 Portland (14)
17 Seattle (11)
15 Minnesota (11)
14 Atlanta (11)
14 Miami (14)
13 Carolina (10)
11 Montreal (11)
10 Rochester (10)
9 Puerto Rico (8)
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US Soccer News

The Vegas Review with a great story on one of those bright young stars we hear about from the US Soccer Academy in Bradenton - Carlos Martinez. I have seen him play 4 times now, and he is something else.
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Americans In Europe

The BBC reports that English League One team Scunthorpe United is chasing after an unnamed American LA Galaxy player. The only clue is that the player is married to an English woman, and can therefore get a work permit. So who is this mystery man? (thanks to Bart for this one)
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CONCACAF News

The Barbados newspaper Nation delivers a brutal condemnation of the countries sports system after the beatdown their football team took last weekend in LA.
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The Nation also talks to team captain Norman Forde about their failings.
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It's interesting that the island's other paper The Advocate had stories leading up to the game, but have pretended it didn't even happen afterwards. Not a single word about the first leg. Let's see if they preview the second.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

2nd Round 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jun 17
Antigua 3-4 Barbuda v Cuba
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2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Wed Jun 18
Bahamas v Jamaica (0-7)
-Fri Jun 20
Canada v St Vincent & Grenadines (3-0)
-Sat Jun 21
St Lucia v Guatemala (0-6)
Costa Rica v Grenada (2-2)
Mexico v Belize (2-0)
-Sun Jun 22
Barbados v USA (0-8)
Guyana v Suriname (0-1)
Cuba v Antigua & Barbuda (4-3)
El Salvador v Panama (0-1)
Netherlands Antilles v Haiti (0-0)
Bermuda v Trinidad & Tobago (2-1)
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Canada & CSA News

The second of six games between Toronto, Vancouver & Montreal to determine their countries entrant in the CONCACAF Champions League takes place this week:
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Matches & Scores:
-Jun 17
Montreal 2-0 Vancouver
-Jun 26
Vancouver v Montreal
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Standings (games played):
3 Toronto (1)
3 Montreal (2)
0 Vancouver (1)
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Mexico & FMF News

Luis Bueno of the Sideline Views gives us some info on player movement in Mexico this offseason. Some good ones.
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England News

Reports from England say Ronaldinho has said no to MLS, and AC Milan have dropped out of the bidding. This leaves Manchester City. Why in the world would he play there? The Times of London think they know why.
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European News

ITALY

Roma has signed Liverpool defender John Arne Riise.
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2008 UEFA European Championship News

Peter Berlin on the New York Times goal blog writes about the blinding Orange.
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Brian Glanville of World Soccer with this thoughts on refereeing at the tourney.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports says its time for France to clean house and start fresh.
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Rino Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo will both miss the Italy quarterfinal match due to Yellow Card accumulation.
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2008 UEFA European Championship Schedule

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
(all times are central)
-Sat Jun 7
Switzerland 0-1 Czech Republic - CR goal by Vaclav Sverkos.
Portugal 2-0 Turkey - 1:30pm - Port goals by Pepe & Raul Meireles.
-Sun Jun 8
Austria 0-1 Croatia - Croa goal by Luka Modric(PK).
Germany 2-0 Poland - Germ goals both by Lukas Podolski.
-Mon Jun 9
Romania 0-0 France
Netherlands v Italy - Neth goals by Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder & Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
-Tue Jun 10
Spain 4-1 Russia - Spa goals by David Villa(3) & Cesc Fabregas. Russ goal by Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Greece 0-2 Sweden - Swe goals by Zlatan Imbrahimovic & Petter Hansson.
-Wed Jun 11
Czech Republic 1-3 Portugal - CR goal by Libor Sionko. Port goals by Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo & Ricardo Quaresma.
Switzerland 1-2 Turkey - Swis goal by Hakan Yakin. Turk goals by Semih Senturk & Ardan Turan.
-Thu Jun 12
Croatia 2-1 Germany - Cro goals by Dario Srna & Ivica Olic. Germ goal by Lukas Podolski.
Austria 1-1 Poland - Aust goal by Ivica Vastic(PK). Pol goal by Roger Guerreiro.
-Fri Jun 13
Italy 1-1 Romania - Ita goal by Christian Panucci. Rom goal by Adrian Mutu.
Netherlands 4-1 France - Neth goals by Dirk Kuyt, Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben & Wesley Sneijder. Fra goal by Thierry Henry.
-Sat Jun 14
Sweden 1-2 Spain - Swed goal by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Spai goals Fernando Torres & David Villa.
Greece 0-1 Russia - Rus goal by Konstantin Zyryanov.
-Sun Jun 15
Switzerland 2-0 Portugal - Swis goals both by Hakan Yakin.
Turkey 3-2 Czech Republic - Turk goals by Arda Turan & Nihat Kahveci(2). Cze goals by Jan Koller & Jaroslav Plasil.
-Mon Jun 16
Poland 0-1 Croatia - 1:30pm - Cro goal by Ivan Klasnic.
Austria 0-1 Germany - 1:30pm - Germ goal by Michael Ballack.
-Tue Jun 17
Netherlands 2-0 Romania - 1:30pm - Neth goals by Klaas Jan Huntelaar & Robin Van Persie.
France 0-2 Italy - Ita goals by Andrea Pirlo & Daniele De Rossi.
-Wed Jun 18
Greece v Spain - 1:30pm - ESPN
Russia v Sweden - 1:30pm - ESPN2
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Group Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Quarterfinals begin on Thursday.
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jun 19
Portugal v Germany - 1:30pm - ESPN
-Fri Jun 20
Croatia v Turkey - 1:30pm - ESPN
-Sat Jun 21
Netherlands v Sweden/Russia winner - 1:30pm - ABC
-Sun Jun 22
Spain v Italy - 1:30pm - ESPN
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World News

The Telegraph has a long long interview with the one and only Eric Cantona. I have heard rumblings that he is going to play himself in a Danny Boyle movie.
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Grahame Jones of the LA Times with a world soccer news round up - Corner Kicks.
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This Is The End

A new documentary film just opened in a small number of theaters and will make its way across the country. It's called Kicking It, and it's about the summer 2006 Homeless World Cup. Here is the trailer.

Crumpled Sheets News

FC Dallas has hired long long long time SMU coach Schellas Hyndman as their new head coach. He has been at the top of the teams list every time they have gone looking for a manager. This time they finally got him.

~and~

Watching the peacock send both the German & Austrian coaches to the stands during the game yesterday was a very embarrassing moment for all referees around the world. That guy calling the game was waaaaaaaay over the top. Pathetic.


Team USA

The following players will NOT be joining the team in Barbados this weekend:
Steve Cherundolo
Brian Ching
Clint Dempsey
Landon Donovan
Maurice Edu
Brad Guzan
Frankie Hejduk
Sacha Kljestan
Pablo Mastroeni
Matt Reis

So if I did my maths correctly, here is who is left:
G:
Dominic Cervi
Tim Howard
D
Carlos Bocanegra
Dan Califf
Jay DeMerit
Oguchi Onyewu
Heath Pearce
M:
Freddy Adu
DaMarcus Beasley
Michael Bradley
Eddie Lewis
F:
Eddie Johnson

So who gets added?

Expect a full roster announcement with replacements any day now.
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Next Up:
2nd leg
-Sun Jun 22
Barbados v USA (0-8)
Kensington Oval in Bridgetown Barbados
2pm central on ESPN Classic
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Frank Dell'apa of the Boston Globe on the scoring ups and downs of Team USA.
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Steve Davis at Soccernet and the always troublesome left fullback spot for the USA.
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The official team blog.
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 13
Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jun 18
New England v New York - 6:30pm on Direct Kick
Salt Lake v San Jose - 8pm on Direct Kick
-Thu Jun 19
Chivas USA v Chicago - 9:30pm on ESPN2
-Sat Jun 21
Toronto v Kansas City - 2:30pm on Direct Kick
New York v Dallas - 6:30pm on FSC
Colorado v Houston - 8:30pm on HDNet
Salt Lake v New England - 8:30pm on Direct Kick
Los Angeles v Columbus - 9:30pm on Direct Kick
-Sun Jun 22
DC v San Jose - 2pm on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
26 New England (13)
22 Columbus (12)
20 Toronto (12)
19 Chicago (11)
16 DC (13)
15 New York (11)
12 Kansas City (11)
Western Conference
20 Los Angeles (12)
17 Houston (13)
16 Dallas (13)
15 Colorado (12)
15 Salt Lake (12)
14 Chivas (12)
10 San Jose (11)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CD CHIVAS USA

James Edward of the Deseret News with a story on former RSL and current CUSA midfielder Carey Talley.
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COLORADO RAPIDS

Class VI has a Q & A with coach Fernando Clavijo.
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COLUMBUS CREW

Columbus has had to put promising midfielder Adam Moffat on the season ending injured list. He started off so great and then injured his left knee. He just had surgery, and then begin that grueling rehab for next season. Damn.
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And Eddie Gaven could miss up to a month with a bad ankle sprain.
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FC DALLAS

The local press all have the hiring of new coach Schellas Hyndman covered:
Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Buzz Carrick of 3rd Degree.
Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News
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Former Real Salt Lake head coach John Ellinger has been hired as an assistant coach, and interim coach Marco Feruzzi has been retained.
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Young Twin Cities midfielder Abdusalam Ibrahim has been traded from Dallas to Toronto for a future draft pick. FC Dallas Updates with some details.
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DC UNITED

Steven Goff of the Washington Post sits down with DC midfielder Santino Quaranta to talk about a drug addiction that very nearly destroyed his life.
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Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post with an article (from Sunday) on La Barra Brava, La Norte and the Screaming Eagles.
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LOS ANGELES GALAXY

The Times of London has an interview with The Beckman.
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Carlos Ruiz scored 4 goals for Guatemala last weekend. The rest of MLS will be terrified if he can find that kind of form to go with Landon Donovan, David Beckham, Edson Buddle and the LA Galaxy's offense bulldozer.
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RED BULL NEW YORK

Big Apple Soccer with the teams injury report.
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SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES

Jeff Carlisle of Center Line Soccer with a story on Kelly Gray who is very happy to be back playing in San Jose.
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TORONTO FC

Midfielder Carl Robinson with his latest column for his hometown Welsh newspaper The County Times.
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GENERAL

Edson Buddle was named Player of the Week by the League.
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Steven Goff of the Washington Post rounds up the past weekend of games on his blog Soccer Insider - The Good, The Bad and the Coyote Ugly.
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Kyle McCarthy of Goal.com looks at the week in MLS, and focuses on how Chicago goes about acquiring Brian McBride.
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Pat Walsh also at Goal.com tells us who he thinks should be on the MLS All Star team.
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MLS Stadium Talk

Mike at Down The Byline with a little Kansas City stadium update.
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MLS Expansion News

The Vancouver Columbian (of Washington state) has a Q & A with Portland Timbers owner Merritt Paulson who wants "IN" on MLS.
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The National Post of Canada talks to Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Martin Nash who says his brother, NBA star Steve Nash, very much wants to invest in MLS. And Vancouver, their home, is the place to do it.
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College News

The Dallas Morning News looks at who might replace Hyndman at SMU. He has been there 24 years.
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Americans In Europe

Is Freddy Adu headed to Genoa on loan from Benfica?
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Arizona Daily Star with an article on Luis Robles who will start the next season as the #2 keeper for Kaiserslautern.
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Yanks Abroad reports that Jared Jeffrey has now turned 18 and signed a professional contract with Club Brugge in Belgium. He has been training there as an amateur.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

2nd Round 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jun 17
Antigua & Barbuda v Cuba
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2nd Round 2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Wed Jun 18
Bahamas v Jamaica (0-7)
-Fri Jun 20
Canada v St Vincent & Grenadines (3-0)
-Sat Jun 21
St Lucia v Guatemala (0-6)
Costa Rica v Grenada (2-2)
Mexico v Belize (2-0)
-Sun Jun 22
Barbados v USA (0-8)
Guyana v Suriname (0-1)
Cuba v Antigua & Barbuda (-)
El Salvador v Panama (0-1)
Netherlands Antilles v Haiti (0-0)
Bermuda v Trinidad & Tobago (2-1)
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CONCACAF Champions League News

The 4 groups and the game schedule have been announced for the CCL!
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Group A
DC
Saprissa
Cruz Azul v Hankook Verdes winner
Metapan v Olimpia/Marathon winner

Group B
Houston
Luis Angel Firpo
Jalapa/Municipal v San Francisco winner
Harbour View v UNAM Pumas winner

Group C
Atlante
Olimpia or Marathon
Joe Public v New England winner
CAN1 v NCA1 winner

Group D
Santos Laguna
Municipal or Jalapa
Alajuelense v Puerto Rico winner
Chivas USA v Tauro winner
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Canada & CSA News

The second of six games between Toronto, Vancouver & Montreal to determine their countries entrant in the CONCACAF Champions League takes place this week:
-Jun 17
Montreal v Vancouver
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Standings (games played):
3 Toronto (1)
0 Vancouver (0)
0 Montreal (1)
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South American News

Glenn Davis of the Houston Chronicle on Messi v Maradona.
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European News

SPAIN

BBC is reporting that the new Barcelona coach is going to sell Ronaldinho, Deco & Samuel Eto'o. Are you serious? All three? Now that is house cleaning.
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FRANCE

Lyon has shown their coach Alain Perrin the door and will announce Claude Puel of Lille as their new man in charge. They will go for their 8th consecutive league title next year.
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ITALY

Sao Paolo has ended Adriano's loan from Inter. He scored several key goals for them, but also caused a lot of distractions. Now Adriano has to impress the new boss Jose Mourinho.
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Since Mourinho was named Inter coach season ticket sales are up 30% and a big increase in sponsorship money.
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UEFA Champions League

A few weeks ago Porto was disqualified from next years Champions League after being found guilty of bribing referees 4 years ago. But today UEFA overturned that and will allow them in next years tournament.
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2008 UEFA European Championship News

A writer for Toronto's Globe & Mail with a story on his great night out in Salzberg! This is what it's all about.
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George Vecsey of the New York Times gives us his view of the big tournament.
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Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated raves about the glory of the tournament so far.
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The tournament gave us another great goal yesterday with Michael Ballack's insane piledriver free kick. I loved it. Reminded me of myself!
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Simon Kuper of the Financial Times tells us about the elder statesmen of the Euro Championships coaches.
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Der Spiegel of Germany looks at the phenomenon of naturalizing citizens just so they can play on your national team.
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The Independent with a story on the Italians who say Romania and Holland have fixed their match to knock Italy and France out. Well, the Italians are the one group who we know they know what a fixed match looks like, that’s for sure.
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Martin Rogers of Yahoo Sports calls the Romanian coach an evil genius.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Several from the Guardian:
-Barry Glendenning on the end of the road for Austria.
-Steven Wells on football and fascism, but mostly about watching the tournament on TV in America. But it all really comes down to is how often we fail to stand up to hatred.
-Barney Ronay says the Austrians never really took to the tournament anyway.
-Paul Doyle on the Dutch leader Marco Van Basten.
-Michael Henderson tells us why we should support the Orange.
-Kevin McCarra on the Italy v France battle.
-Paul Wilson on the power of German captain Michael Ballack.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2008 UEFA European Championship Schedule

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
(all times are central)
-Sat Jun 7
Switzerland 0-1 Czech Republic - CR goal by Vaclav Sverkos.
Portugal 2-0 Turkey - 1:30pm - Port goals by Pepe & Raul Meireles.
-Sun Jun 8
Austria 0-1 Croatia - Croa goal by Luka Modric(PK).
Germany 2-0 Poland - Germ goals both by Lukas Podolski.
-Mon Jun 9
Romania 0-0 France
Netherlands v Italy - Neth goals by Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder & Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
-Tue Jun 10
Spain 4-1 Russia - Spa goals by David Villa(3) & Cesc Fabregas. Russ goal by Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Greece 0-2 Sweden - Swe goals by Zlatan Imbrahimovic & Petter Hansson.
-Wed Jun 11
Czech Republic 1-3 Portugal - CR goal by Libor Sionko. Port goals by Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo & Ricardo Quaresma.
Switzerland 1-2 Turkey - Swis goal by Hakan Yakin. Turk goals by Semih Senturk & Ardan Turan.
-Thu Jun 12
Croatia 2-1 Germany - Cro goals by Dario Srna & Ivica Olic. Germ goal by Lukas Podolski.
Austria 1-1 Poland - Aust goal by Ivica Vastic(PK). Pol goal by Roger Guerreiro.
-Fri Jun 13
Italy 1-1 Romania - Ita goal by Christian Panucci. Rom goal by Adrian Mutu.
Netherlands 4-1 France - Neth goals by Dirk Kuyt, Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben & Wesley Sneijder. Fra goal by Thierry Henry.
-Sat Jun 14
Sweden 1-2 Spain - Swed goal by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Spai goals Fernando Torres & David Villa.
Greece 0-1 Russia - Rus goal by Konstantin Zyryanov.
-Sun Jun 15
Switzerland 2-0 Portugal - Swis goals both by Hakan Yakin.
Turkey 3-2 Czech Republic - Turk goals by Arda Turan & Nihat Kahveci(2). Cze goals by Jan Koller & Jaroslav Plasil.
-Mon Jun 16
Poland 0-1 Croatia - 1:30pm - Cro goal by Ivan Klasnic.
Austria 0-1 Germany - 1:30pm - Germ goal by Michael Ballack.
-Tue Jun 17
Netherlands v Romania - 1:30pm - ESPN Classic
France v Italy - 1:30pm - ESPN
-Wed Jun 18
Greece v Spain - 1:30pm - ESPN
Russia v Sweden - 1:30pm - ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Quarterfinals begin on Thursday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

The Observer with a story from Austria about the mysterious death of a star player nearly 70 years ago.
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Pitch Invasion with the story of a journalist who got a "Dream Job" that turned out to be horrible.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

African News

Reuters with a story on Gambian players accusing Algerian players of making terroristic threats.

Oh Christmas Tree News

Now this is a scoreline even a hardass cynic like me can be satisfied with: USA 8-0 Barbados. Before the game kicked off, I loudly pronounced at the Sweetwater that our boys must win by at least 8-0 or I would be upset with them. Mission accomplished. Now they go to the island for leg 2 knowing only a 9-0 loss (or some equivalent there of) will knock them out. So let's see Coach Bradley give some other guys a chance to shine this time. How about an entirely different starting 11. There are a lot of guys us fans would love to see in a USA shirt, and this is the time to do it.

~and~

Turkey! Gobble! Turkey! Gobble! Turkey! Gobble! Turkey! Gobble! Turkey! Gobble! Holy smokes! What a come back. Wow. I am still stunned 18 hours later. Down 0-2 in the 72nd minute to a team with quality like the Czechs! And then to win it before were even get to stoppage time? Simply incredible.

~and~

MLSnet is still crashing Firefox [CORRECTED]. I had heard from someone at MLS that they had fixed it. I guess not. I made a move that I hate to do, but I then opened the league site in the wretched Internet Explorer, and after a few minutes I got a warning pop up saying that IE was having a conflict with a plug in on the website, and would need to close to fix it. So I guess IE is not the leagues browser of choice either. Maybe I have to be using Safari?

~and~

Two wild scores to report from South America: Paraguay stunned Brazil 2-0 at home in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying, playing the last 43 minutes with 10 men. And Argentina were held 1-1 at home by Ecuador.


Team USA

-Sun Jun 15
USA 8-0 Barbados - USA goals by Clint Dempsey(2), Michael Bradley, Brian Ching(2), Landon Donovan, Eddie Johnson & Daryl Ferguson(OG).
Match report from US Soccer.
Match report by Luis Bueno of the Press Enterprise.
Match report by Ivan Orozco of the San Diego Union Tribune.
Match report by Grahame Jones of the Los Angeles Times.
Match report by Scott Wolf of the LA Daily News.
Match report - and - USA player ratings by Mike Woitalla of Soccer America.
Match report and USA player ratings by Jeff Carlisle of Soccernet.
Match report from The Nation in Barbados - headline: "Bajans Mauled"
Post game quotes by USA coach & players from US Soccer.
Game photos from US Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My notes from the game:
-I find it very frustrating that the USA plays at home against a very weak opponent and they still line up with 2 defensive midfielders. We should be in an all out attack formation for a game like this.
-I also hate it when Landon Donovan is played out on the wing. Half of his game is taken away when he does not a have a free role to move around in the attack and become unpredictable. I really hate this about Bradley’s coaching.
-Pablo Mastroeni fired in a long distance shot that Brian Ching deflected in for the 3rd goal, but a few minutes later Mastro pulled up with a gluteus maximus injury and had to be subbed out. Freddy Adu replaced him in the 26th minute.
-The referee was none other than His Royal Highness El Vampiro - Marco Antonio Rodriguez of Mexico. He is a fairly lousy ref, but he sure looks cool!
-Tim Howard did not play after hurting his back in training on Friday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Next Up:
2nd leg
-Sun Jun 22
Barbados v USA (0-8)
Kensington Oval in Bridgetown Barbados
2pm central on ESPN Classic
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Scoreboard

Week 12
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jun 12
Houston 0-2 New England - NER goals by Steve Ralston & Kheli Dube.
attendance: 14,655
-Sat Jun 13
Toronto 3-1 Colorado - TFC goals by Danny Dichio & Rohan Ricketts(2). CR goal by Christian Gomez.
attendance: 20,135
DC 4-1 New York - DCU goals by Luciano Emilio(3) & Clyde Simms. RBNY goal by Dave Van Den Bergh.
attendance: 18,622
Kansas City 0-3 Columbus - CC goal by Chad Marshall & Alejandro Moreno(2).
attendance: 10,385
San Jose 0-3 Los Angeles - LAG goals all by Edson Buddle.
attendance: 39,872
Chivas USA 0-1 Salt Lake - RSL goal by Robbie Findley.
attendance: 10,573
-Sun Jun 15
Dallas 1-0 Chicago - FCD goal by Kenny Cooper.
attendance: 14,738
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After 7, yes 7, Red Cards last week, we had 0, yes 0, this week. Amazing. It must have been a full moon, or Friday the 13th brought everyone good luck.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
26 New England (13)
22 Columbus (12)
20 Toronto (12)
19 Chicago (11)
16 DC (13)
15 New York (11)
12 Kansas City (11)
Western Conference
20 Los Angeles (12)
17 Houston (13)
16 Dallas (13)
15 Colorado (12)
15 Salt Lake (12)
14 Chivas (12)
10 San Jose (11)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Golden Boot

9 Landon Donovan - Los Angeles
8 Edson Buddle - Los Angeles
7 Kenny Cooper - Dallas
7 Luciano Emilio - DC
6 Alejandro Moreno - Columbus
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Stadium Talk

We all know that in the long run Chivas USA is going to have to find their own home outside the Home Depot Center. Both the LA Times and the Orange County Register have new stories on the team looking at building a new youth facility in Santa Ana. Could this also be a future sight for their own stadium? (thanks to JJ for this)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Fri Jun 13
Montreal 1-0 Charleston
Rochester 3-0 Vancouver
-Sat Jun 14
Miami 2-0 Carolina
Minnesota 1-1 Atlanta
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Standings

22 Vancouver (11)
20 Charleston (11)
18 Portland (14)
17 Seattle (11)
15 Minnesota (11)
14 Atlanta (11)
14 Miami (14)
13 Carolina (10)
11 Montreal (11)
10 Rochester (10)
9 Puerto Rico (8)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF News

Honduras became the first team to advance to the first group stage with a 2-2 draw in Puerto Rico giving them a 6-2 aggregate win. In the first leg games the USA, Jamaica & Guatemala dismantled their opponents by 8, 7 and 6 to nothing scores, while Mexico got a PK in the 90+ minute mark to seal a 0-2 win over little Belize. But the big news is Bermuda beating Trinidad & Tobago 2-1 in Port Au Prince, and Grenada holding Costa Rica 2-2. All other games went according to plan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Carlos Ruiz scored 4 goals for Guatemala. The rest of MLS will be terrified if he can find that kind of form to go with Landon Donovan, David Beckham, Edson Buddle and the LA Galaxy's offense bulldozer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

2nd Round 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jun 4
Honduras 4-0 Puerto Rico - Hon goals by Julio Cesar De Leon, Wilson Palacios & David Suazo(2).
-Sat Jun 14
Suriname 1-0 Guyana
Grenada 2-2 Costa Rica
Guatemala 6-0 St Lucia
-Sun Jun 15
USA 8-0 Barbados
St Vincent & Grenadines 0-3 Canada
Haiti 0-0 Netherlands Antilles
Belize 0-2 Mexico
Panama 1-0 El Salvador
Trinidad & Tobago 1-2 Bermuda
Jamaica 7-0 Bahamas
-Tue Jun 17
Antigua & Barbuda v Cuba
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Sat Jun 14
Puerto Rico 2-2 Honduras - Hond advance 6-2 on aggregate.
-Wed Jun 18
Bahamas v Jamaica (0-7)
-Fri Jun 20
Canada v St Vincent & Grenadines (3-0)
-Sat Jun 21
St Lucia v Guatemala (0-6)
Costa Rica v Grenada (2-2)
Mexico v Belize (2-0)
-Sun Jun 22
Barbados v USA (0-8)
Guyana v Suriname (0-1)
Cuba v Antigua & Barbuda (-)
El Salvador v Panama (0-1)
Netherlands Antilles v Haiti (0-0)
Bermuda v Trinidad & Tobago (2-1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Canada & CSA News

The second of six games between Toronto, Vancouver & Montreal to determine their countries entrant in the CONCACAF Champions League takes place this week:
-Jun 17
Montreal V Vancouver
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Standings (games played):
3 Toronto (1)
0 Vancouver (0)
0 Montreal (1)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

Kartik Krishnaiyer of the American Soccer Spot looks at what the hiring of Sven Goren Erickson really means to Mexican soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

Jen Chang at Soccernet with his Monday morning notes on soccer around the world.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

FIFA.com has a Q & A with long time Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2008 UEFA European Championship Schedule

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
(all times are central)
-Sat Jun 7
Switzerland 0-1 Czech Republic - CR goal by Vaclav Sverkos.
Portugal 2-0 Turkey - 1:30pm - Port goals by Pepe & Raul Meireles.
-Sun Jun 8
Austria 0-1 Croatia - Croa goal by Luka Modric(PK).
Germany 2-0 Poland - Germ goals both by Lukas Podolski.
-Mon Jun 9
Romania 0-0 France
Netherlands v Italy - Neth goals by Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder & Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
-Tue Jun 10
Spain 4-1 Russia - Spa goals by David Villa(3) & Cesc Fabregas. Russ goal by Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Greece 0-2 Sweden - Swe goals by Zlatan Imbrahimovic & Petter Hansson.
-Wed Jun 11
Czech Republic 1-3 Portugal - CR goal by Libor Sionko. Port goals by Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo & Ricardo Quaresma.
Switzerland 1-2 Turkey - Swis goal by Hakan Yakin. Turk goals by Semih Senturk & Ardan Turan.
-Thu Jun 12
Croatia 2-1 Germany - Cro goals by Dario Srna & Ivica Olic. Germ goal by Lukas Podolski.
Austria 1-1 Poland - Aust goal by Ivica Vastic(PK). Pol goal by Roger Guerreiro.
-Fri Jun 13
Italy 1-1 Romania - Ita goal by Christian Panucci. Rom goal by Adrian Mutu.
Netherlands 4-1 France - Neth goals by Dirk Kuyt, Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben & Wesley Sneijder. Fra goal by Thierry Henry.
-Sat Jun 14
Sweden 1-2 Spain - Swed goal by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Spai goals Fernando Torres & David Villa.
Greece 0-1 Russia - Rus goal by Konstantin Zyryanov.
-Sun Jun 15
Switzerland 2-0 Portugal - Swis goals both by Hakan Yakin.
Turkey 3-2 Czech Republic - Turk goals by Arda Turan & Nihat Kahveci(2). Cze goals by Jan Koller & Jaroslav Plasil.
-Mon Jun 16
Poland v Croatia - 1:30pm - ESPN Classic
Austria v Germany - 1:30pm - ESPN
-Tue Jun 17
Netherlands v Romania - 1:30pm - ESPN Classic
France v Italy - 1:30pm - ESPN
-Wed Jun 18
Greece v Spain - 1:30pm - ESPN
Russia v Sweden - 1:30pm - ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Quarterfinals begin on Thursday.

No One Kicks Ass Like We Kick Ass

When Vertigo Goes Vertical News

My newest musical gift to you - du Nord Muxtape #5: The Colour Green Is Gorgeous - is now online for your listening pleasure.


Team USA

-Sun Jun 15
USA v Barbados
Home Depot Center in Carson California
4pm central time on ESPN2 & Galavision from Home Depot Center in Carson California.
Match preview by Ridge Mahoney at Soccer America.
Match preview by Beau Dure at USA Today.
Match preview by Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet.
Match preview and Barbados roster from The Nation, a Barbados newspaper.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The PA Sports Ticker with articles on DaMarcus Beasley - and - Brian Ching.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer has an audio interview with coach Bob Bradley talking about the start of World Cup qualifying.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USS with more audio, this time an interview with goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer also has photos of the team training on Wednesday.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maybe this is one of the big reasons why so few tickets have been sold for Sunday's game in LA......
A reader posted this note in yesterdays comments section, and I think it says a lot about the jaded nature of American sports fans. In my mind you either support your team, or you don't, there is no middle ground. This person is all about middle ground, and probably jumps off the bandwagon when the team loses too. That’s cool. Your prerogative. Read on:
I like watching the national team as much as the next guy, but Barbados? How is that going to get anyone excited? I understand you can only qualify against those countries in your region, but I'll gladly watch the highlights in 90 seconds as opposed to 90 minutes of live action. When the bigger fish roll around, I'm in.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2nd leg
-Sun Jun 22
Barbados v USA
Kensington Oval in Bridgetown Barbados
2pm central on ESPN Classic
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Scoreboard

Week 12
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jun 12
Houston 0-2 New England - NER goals by Steve Ralston & Kheli Dube.
-Sat Jun 13
Toronto v Colorado - 6pm central on Direct Kick
DC v New York - 6:30pm central on HDNet
Kansas City v Columbus - 7pm central on Direct Kick
San Jose v Los Angeles - 9pm central on FSC
Chivas USA v Salt Lake - 9:30pm central on Direct Kick
-Sun Jun 15
Dallas v Chicago - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Serving Suspensions:
Brad Evans - Columbus
James Riley - San Jose
Marcelo Gallardo - DC
Brandon Prideaux - Chicago
Bryan Namoff - DC
Alan Gordon - Los Angeles
Facundo Erpen - Colorado
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My notes from the game:
-After last nights game I don't think there is any doubt left as to who is the best team in the league right now. New England is very impressive!
-Is there any doubt that Kheli Dube has vaulted to the top of the Rookie of the Year race? Nope.
-I like it when a referee gives an erroneous Penalty and the keeper saves it. Justice served. Houston forward Franco Caraccio was clearly fouled outside the box, but the ref gave a PK, and Matt Reis stuffed Stuart Holden.
-It was good to see Houston backup keeper Tony Caig has continued with his early season reputation and given up another horrible goal. We here at du Nord coined the term "Caiged" for just such blunders. See video of the 2nd New Eng goal for a perfect example.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
26 New England (13)
19 Chicago (10)
19 Columbus (11)
17 Toronto (11)
15 New York (10)
13 DC (12)
12 Kansas City (10)
Western Conference
17 Los Angeles (11)
17 Houston (13)
15 Colorado (11)
14 Chivas (11)
13 Dallas (12)
12 Salt Lake (11)
10 San Jose (10)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CD CHIVAS USA

Andrea Canales at Soccernet with a story on huge du Nord fave, and TV contest winner Jorge Flores. This kids story is even better than Jay DeMerit.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Goalkeeper Dario Sala is the guest blogger today on Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune's blog The Red Card. What a great guy Sala is.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tobias Xavier Lopez of the Fort Worth Star Telegram says that the coaching job has still not been handed out, but there are 3 up for it.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

RED BULL NEW YORK

Forward Jozy Altidore says goodbye to NYRB & MLS in his newest post on the New York Times blog Goal.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

TORONTO FC

Brian Forbes of the Denver Post talks to their home town boy TFC defender Todd Dunivant about life north of the border.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

US Soccer gives us audio of the Week 11 MLS Referee Review.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jun 12
Puerto Rico 3-0 Carolina
Portland 2-2 Atlanta
-Fri Jun 13
Montreal v Charleston
Rochester v Vancouver
-Sat Jun 14
Miami v Carolina
Minnesota v Atlanta
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Standings

22 Vancouver (10)
20 Charleston (10)
18 Portland (14)
17 Seattle (11)
14 Minnesota (10)
13 Carolina (8)
12 Atlanta (9)
11 Miami (13)
9 Puerto Rico (8)
8 Montreal (10)
7 Rochester (9)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Soccer In America

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader with a story on soccer camp and a local appearance by Eric Wynalda! Sioux Falls sits right at the intersection of South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa & Nebraska.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer has a Q & A with USA Today soccer writer Beau Dure.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF News

So now I guess Colorado Rapids defender Ugo Ihemelu is now CANADIAN! He is training with the Canucks for qualifying. I thought he was Nigerian.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

2nd Round 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jun 4
Honduras 4-0 Puerto Rico - Hon goals by Julio Cesar De Leon, Wilson Palacios & David Suazo(2).
-Sat Jun 14
Suriname v Guyana
Grenada v Costa Rica
Guatemala v St Lucia
-Sun Jun 15
USA v Barbados
St Vincent & Grenadines v Canada
Haiti v Netherlands Antilles
Belize v Mexico
Panama v El Salvador
Trinidad & Tobago v Bermuda
Jamaica v Bahamas
-Tue Jun 17
Antigua & Barbuda v Cuba
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Man U star Wayne Rooney got married to his long time sweetheart. Congrats. The gift is in the mail.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

European News

ITALY

Bologna has been bought by a faceless American ownership group. They paid $28 Million for the team. That is less than you can get an MLS team for. How bad is business in Italy.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Still no word on what will happen to ownership at Roma. But you figure with the size debt that they have a sale is imminent.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Milan has signed Italian defender Gianluca Zambrotta after two years out of the country at Barcelona.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2008 UEFA European Championship News

My friend Janefact pointed out that Croatia connected on 17 consecutive passes over 50 seconds before scoring their first goal. That is impressive. Not quite in the league with Argentina's 26 in a row at the last World Cup. Just still impressive.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2008 UEFA European Championship Schedule

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
(all times are central)
-Sat Jun 7
Switzerland 0-1 Czech Republic - CR goal by Vaclav Sverkos.
Portugal 2-0 Turkey - 1:30pm - Port goals by Pepe & Raul Meireles.
-Sun Jun 8
Austria 0-1 Croatia - Croa goal by Luka Modric(PK).
Germany 2-0 Poland - Germ goals both by Lukas Podolski.
-Mon Jun 9
Romania 0-0 France
Netherlands v Italy - Neth goals by Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder & Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
-Tue Jun 10
Spain 4-1 Russia - Spa goals by David Villa(3) & Cesc Fabregas. Russ goal by Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Greece 0-2 Sweden - Swe goals by Zlatan Imbrahimovic & Petter Hansson.
-Wed Jun 11
Czech Republic 1-3 Portugal - CR goal by Libor Sionko. Port goals by Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo & Ricardo Quaresma.
Switzerland 1-2 Turkey - Swis goal by Hakan Yakin. Turk goals by Semih Senturk & Ardan Turan.
-Thu Jun 12
Croatia 2-1 Germany - Cro goals by Dario Srna & Ivica Olic. Germ goal by Lukas Podolski.
Austria 1-1 Poland - Aust goal by Ivica Vastic(PK). Pol goal by Roger Guerreiro.
-Fri Jun 13
Italy v Romania - 10:50am - ESPN2
Netherlands v France - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Sat Jun 14
Sweden v Spain - 10:50am - ESPN2
Greece v Russia - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Sun Jun 15
Switzerland v Portugal - 1:30pm - ESPN2
Turkey v Czech Republic - 1:30pm - ESPN Classic
-Mon Jun 16
Poland v Croatia - 1:30pm - ESPN Classic
Austria v Germany - 1:30pm - ESPN
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Road To World Cup 2010 - South Africa News

FIFA.com has a list of ALL the qualifiers going on around the world this weekend. Insanity.

Confused About Anything News

Sure, all the usual stars are out in LA for the NBA finals, but check out the guys in the last paragraph of this article. Very cool. And for them the best part is that no one hassles them, cuz no one knows who they are, yet they get the full VIP treatment! KG gets it! Thanks to LA Joe for this one.


Team USA

-Sun Jun 15
USA v Barbados - 4pm central time on ESPN2 & Galavision
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The official team blog.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The TV schedule for the 2nd leg is now available:
-Sun Jun 22
Barbados v USA
The Kensington Oval in Bridgetown
2pm central on ESPN Classic & Galavision
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Scoreboard

Week 12
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jun 12
Houston v New England - 8pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Jun 13
Toronto v Colorado - 6pm central on Direct Kick
DC v New York - 6:30pm central on HDNet
Kansas City v Columbus - 7pm central on Direct Kick
San Jose v Los Angeles - 9pm central on FSC
Chivas USA v Salt Lake - 9:30pm central on Direct Kick
-Sun Jun 15
Dallas v Chicago - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Boston Globe previews tonight’s game.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with pregame notes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
23 New England (12)
19 Chicago (10)
19 Columbus (11)
17 Toronto (11)
15 New York (10)
13 DC (12)
12 Kansas City (10)
Western Conference
17 Los Angeles (11)
17 Houston (12)
15 Colorado (11)
14 Chivas (11)
13 Dallas (12)
12 Salt Lake (11)
10 San Jose (10)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

CD CHIVAS USA

Forward Maykel Gallindo has had surgery to fix a hernia muscle problem and will be out almost 2 months. I guess he didn't want to go to Germany and have that quickie surgery.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

Diego Aparicio of the Dallas Morning News with the latest public information on the FCD manager search.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle with a story on defender Bobby Boswell who is beginning to really fit in with his new team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

KANSAS CITY WIZARDS

Bob Luder of the Star on the teams lack of goals.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

A note from my friend Joe L about the guy who ran onto the field last weekend to high five DB: During the Galaxy v. Colorado game on Sat night a guy ran on to the field to hug Beckman and Chris Klein took him down like a secret service agent. Fox cut away while this was going on the field but I had a friend at the game who told me about it. Here are some pictures:
One
Two
Three
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

REAL SALT LAKE

Great pictures from the new stadium. The seats are going in, and its looking like a genuine ballpark.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I realize after looking at these pictures how much this new stadium looks like Toyota Park in Bridgeview.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

GENERAL

Shaka Hislop at the Guardian says MLS should embrace their role of player development, and then selling to the highest bidder.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Frank Giase of the Newark Star Ledger with his latest league and world news round up.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division News

The Minnesota Thunder have joined forces with the 2 best youth clubs in the Twin Cities to form the Thunder Academy. They will have both U16 & U18 in the USSF Development Academy as well. This is a huge move and the first for a USL First Division team. It will put them ahead of some MLS teams from day 1. Read all the details here by Brian Quarstad at Blue Sky Soccer.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jun 12
Puerto Rico v Carolina
Portland v Atlanta
-Fri Jun 13
Montreal v Charleston
Rochester v Vancouver
-Sat Jun 14
Miami v Carolina
Minnesota v Atlanta
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

USL First Division Standings

22 Vancouver (10)
20 Charleston (10)
17 Portland (13)
17 Seattle (11)
14 Minnesota (10)
13 Carolina (8)
12 Atlanta (9)
11 Miami (13)
8 Montreal (10)
7 Rochester (9)
6 Puerto Rico (7)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Americans In Europe

Villarreal unveil Jozy Altidore. With pictures!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News on the maturation process of Freddy Adu.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF News

Shalrie Joseph lead his country Grenada to a big 2-1 come from behind upset over Jamaica in a friendly on Tuesday. The Antigua Sun with the story.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Canadian Press previews their national teams series against St Vincent & Grenadines.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Reuters with a preview of USA, Mexico and CONCACAF qualifiers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FIFA.com previews the regions qualifiers.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

2nd Round 1st Leg Matches & Scores:
-Wed Jun 4
Honduras 4-0 Puerto Rico - Hon goals by Julio Cesar De Leon, Wilson Palacios & David Suazo(2).
-Sat Jun 14
Suriname v Guyana
Grenada v Costa Rica
Guatemala v St Lucia
-Sun Jun 15
USA v Barbados
St Vincent & Grenadines v Canada
Haiti v Netherlands Antilles
Belize v Mexico
Panama v El Salvador
Trinidad & Tobago v Bermuda
Jamaica v Bahamas
-Tue Jun 17
Antigua & Barbuda v Cuba
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2nd Leg Matches & Scores (with 1st leg scores included):
-Sat Jun 14
Puerto Rico v Honduras (0-4)
-Wed Jun 18
Bahamas v Jamaica (-)
-Fri Jun 20
Canada v St Vincent & Grenadines (-)
-Sat Jun 21
St Lucia v Guatemala (-)
Costa Rica v Grenada (-)
Mexico v Belize (-)
-Sun Jun 22
Barbados v USA (-)
Guyana v Suriname (-)
Cuba v Antigua & Barbuda (-)
El Salvador v Panama
Netherlands Antilles v Haiti
Bermuda v Trinidad & Tobago (-)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

England News

Fernando Duarte - and - Kevin McCarra of the Guardian on Chelsea's hiring of Big Phil.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2008 UEFA European Championship News

By virtue of results yesterday Portugal has advanced to the knockout rounds, while host Switzerland has been eliminated.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cristiano Ronaldo continued his crusade to be the worlds best player yesterday by scoring one and setting up his teams other two goals! Wow.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Duncan Castles of the Guardian tells us about the giant market value of the players on this Portuguese team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2008 UEFA European Championship Schedule

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
(all times are central)
-Sat Jun 7
Switzerland 0-1 Czech Republic - CR goal by Vaclav Sverkos.
Portugal 2-0 Turkey - 1:30pm - Port goals by Pepe & Raul Meireles.
-Sun Jun 8
Austria 0-1 Croatia - Croa goal by Luka Modric(PK).
Germany 2-0 Poland - Germ goals both by Lukas Podolski.
-Mon Jun 9
Romania 0-0 France
Netherlands v Italy - Neth goals by Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder & Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
-Tue Jun 10
Spain 4-1 Russia - Spa goals by David Villa(3) & Cesc Fabregas. Russ goal by Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Greece 0-2 Sweden - Swe goals by Zlatan Imbrahimovic & Petter Hansson.
-Wed Jun 11
Czech Republic 1-3 Portugal - CR goal by Libor Sionko. Port goals by Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo & Ricardo Quaresma.
Switzerland 1-2 Turkey - Swis goal by Hakan Yakin. Turk goals by Semih Senturk & Ardan Turan.
-Thu Jun 12
Croatia v Germany - 10:50am - ESPN2
Austria v Poland - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Fri Jun 13
Italy v Romania - 10:50am - ESPN2
Netherlands v France - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Sat Jun 14
Sweden v Spain - 10:50am - ESPN2
Greece v Russia - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Sun Jun 15
Switzerland v Portugal - 1:30pm - ESPN2
Turkey v Czech Republic - 1:30pm - ESPN Classic
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Standings

Doing The Limbo Rock News

Big big big upset in the Open Cup last night as Hollywood United went to Portland and knocked out the Timbers 2-3. Yes that is the team started by the LA pretty boys, but the team is much more serious these days and only bring out the glamor for the charity games.

~and~

Chicago & Columbus fans joined together last night at their teams Open Cup qualifier to unveil a new campaign and banner "Fans Against Racism"! Have a look and a read. Excellent. The banner now heads to Crew Stadium. Thanks to Ben for the info.

~and~

I am really happy that MLS is finally outlawing fans throwing streamers are players during the run of play, especially during corner kicks. I hate it, and feel 100% that can only lead to idiots throwing more things at players, as if that already doesn't happen.


US Open Cup

First Round Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jun 10
Carolina Railhawks 1-0 Brooklyn Knights
Real Maryland Monarchs v NY Pancyprian Freedoms - postponed
Richmond Kickers 3-0 Fredricksburg Gunners
Western Mass Pioneers 2-0 Boston Olympiakos
Minnesota Thunder 4-1 St Louis Lions
Michigan Bucks 1-2 Cleveland City Stars
AAC Eagles 0-4 Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Rochester Rhinos 2-1 RWB Adria
Austin Aztex 2-2 Atlanta Silverbacks - Atlanta adv 5-4 on PK's
Miami FC Blues 4-2 Bradenton Academics
Charlotte Eagles 5-2 Clearwater Galactics
Charleston Battery 3-0 ASC New Stars
Crystal Palace Baltimore 2-1 Los Angeles Legends
Harrisburg City Islanders 5-1 Yakima Reds
Arizona Sahuaros 0-1 Seattle Sounders
Portland Timbers 2-3 Hollywood United
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS had an Open Cup qualifier last night too (the winner enters the tournament proper in the next round):
Chicago 3-2 Columbus
-The game was played at Bradley U in Peoria IL before a record crowd of nearly 4000. What a great move by the Fire.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Team USA

USA v Barbados - 4pm central time on ESPN2 & Galavision from Home Depot Center in Carson California.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

US Soccer has press people from MLS teams trying to help them spread the word today about this game. Ticket sales are terrible and they are calling in all barkers. It would have helped if they had pushed this game along with their recent big 3. But, nope. As far as I could tell it was a forgotten game. With so many places chomping at the bit to host a game like this it’s sad that it gets stuck in overbooked LA.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There will be television coverage of the 2nd leg in Barbados, but the exact time is still being worked out. Huh? The time of the game still isn't set?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Here is the USA roster for the match:
G:
Dominic Cervi
Brad Guzan
Tim Howard
D:
Carlos Bocanegra
Dan Califf
Steve Cherundolo
Jay DeMerit
Frankie Hejduk
Oguchi Onyewu
Heath Pearce
M:
Freddy Adu
DaMarcus Beasley
Michael Bradley
Maurice Edu
Sacha Kljestan
Eddie Lewis
Pablo Mastroeni
F:
Brian Ching
Landon Donovan
Clint Dempsey
Eddie Johnson
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Ridge Mahoney of Soccer USA with a review of the roster.
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Both Barbados daily papers, the Advocate and the Nation, with articles on their teams friendly with Bermuda this past weekend. It did not go well.
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The official team blog.
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 12
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jun 12
Houston v New England - 8pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Jun 13
Toronto v Colorado - 6pm central on Direct Kick
DC v New York - 6:30pm central on HDNet
Kansas City v Columbus - 7pm central on Direct Kick
San Jose v Los Angeles - 9pm central on FSC
Chivas USA v Salt Lake - 9:30pm central on Direct Kick
-Sun Jun 15
Dallas v Chicago - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jeff Carlisle at Soccernet previews the Thurs night Houston v New England match up.
-Several players from both teams will not be available as they are on national team duty:
New England
-Kenny Mansally - Gambia
-Khano Smith - Bermuda
-Shalrie Joseph - Grenada
Houston
-Pat Onstad - Canada
-Dwayne De Rosario - Canada
-Brian Ching - USA
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS News

COLORADO RAPIDS

Got word today that the reason the Raps wore the odd Burgundy-Navy combo was "... their bags were lost in transportation ...LA loaned them some shorts." Thanks to KR for the info. Much appreciated!
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FC DALLAS

Ives Galarcep of Soccer by Ives reports that Dallas will name SMU coach Schellas Hyndman as their new head man any moment now.
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GENERAL

Brian Ching has been named MLS Player of the Week.
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Andrea Canales at Soccer365 comments on the leagues new anti-streamer rule.
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USL First Division News

After getting off to a very poor start, Montreal booted head coach Nick De Santis off the bench and named John Limniatis as his replacement. De Santis will remain with the team as Technical Director.
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Week 8 Team of the Week
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USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jun 12
Puerto Rico v Carolina
Portland v Atlanta
-Fri Jun 13
Montreal v Charleston
Rochester v Vancouver
-Sat Jun 14
Miami v Carolina
Minnesota v Atlanta
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USL First Division Standings

22 Vancouver (10)
20 Charleston (10)
17 Portland (13)
17 Seattle (11)
14 Minnesota (10)
13 Carolina (8)
12 Atlanta (9)
11 Miami (13)
8 Montreal (10)
7 Rochester (9)
6 Puerto Rico (7)
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US Soccer News

The USA Futsal team qualified for the next World Cup by finishing 3rd in the CONCACAF qualifying tournament that ended on Sunday in Guatemala. The host team and Cuba are the other 2 to advance.
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Americans In Europe

Jozy Altidore will be introduced by Villarreal today.
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Yanks Abroad with an article on Andrew Jacobson who is preparing for season 2 at Lorient in France.
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CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying News

Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union Tribune talks to the coach of Belize who will get the pleasure of being pummeled by Mexico in the first round.
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CONCACAF Champions League News

2 MLS teams, 1 Canadian team (still tbd) and 1 USL 1st Division team now know their CCL preliminary round opponents. 16 teams have been paired and those 8 winners will join 8 more in the group stage.
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Here are the Matches:
-1st Leg to be played Aug 26-28
Municipal/Jalapa loser (Guatemala) v San Francisco (Panama)
Joe Public (T&T) v New England Revolution
Alajuelense (Costa Rico) v Puerto Rico Islanders
Cruz Azul v Hankook Verdes (Belize)
Harbour View (Jamaica) v UNAM Pumas
Tauro (Panama) v Chivas USA
Canada winner v Nicaragua 2nd place
Isidro Metapan (El Salvador) v Olimpia/Marathon loser (Honduras)

-2nd Leg to be played Sep 2-4
San Francisco v Municipal/Jalapa loser
New England Revolution v Joe Public
Puerto Rico Islanders v Alajuelense
Hankook Verdes v Cruz Azul
UNAM Pumas v Harbour View
Chivas USA v Tauro
Nicaragua 2nd place v Canada winner
Olimpia/Marathon loser v Isidro Metapan
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Canadian qualifying:
-May 27
Montreal 0–1 Toronto
-Jun 17
Montreal v Vancouver
-Jun 26
Vancouver v Montreal
-Jul 1
Toronto v Vancouver
-Jul 9
Vancouver v Toronto
-Jul 22
Toronto v Montreal
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2008 UEFA European Championship News

Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune on Spain's beatdown of the Ruskies.
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Got this note from a reader called Lübbert: The Germany - Croatia game will be televised live at the Glockenspiel Restaurant in St. Paul, MN at 11 am CST on Thursday. OK then.
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2008 UEFA European Championship Schedule

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
(all times are central)
-Sat Jun 7
Switzerland 0-1 Czech Republic - CR goal by Vaclav Sverkos.
Portugal 2-0 Turkey - 1:30pm - Port goals by Pepe & Raul Meireles.
-Sun Jun 8
Austria 0-1 Croatia - Croa goal by Luka Modric(PK).
Germany 2-0 Poland - Germ goals both by Lukas Podolski.
-Mon Jun 9
Romania 0-0 France
Netherlands v Italy - Neth goals by Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder & Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
-Tue Jun 10
Spain 4-1 Russia - Spa goals by David Villa(3) & Cesc Fabregas. Russ goal by Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Greece 0-2 Sweden - Swe goals by Zlatan Imbrahimovic & Petter Hansson.
-Wed Jun 11
Czech Republic v Portugal - 10:50am - ESPN2
Switzerland v Turkey - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Thu Jun 12
Croatia v Germany - 10:50am - ESPN2
Austria v Poland - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Fri Jun 13
Italy v Romania - 10:50am - ESPN2
Netherlands v France - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Sat Jun 14
Sweden v Spain - 10:50am - ESPN2
Greece v Russia - 1:30pm - ESPN2
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Group Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

African News

Dave Zirin of the Edge Of Sports with an article on the new wave of South African violence and the roles that soccer and World Cup can play to end this.

Wait For So Long News

The draw for the first CONCACAF Champions League will be tomorrow, Wednesday.

~and~

New multi-millionaire Jozy Altidore gives Rhapsody his current playlist for us to listen to. You too can now groove like a young hipster. This mix will fulfill your entire daily nourishment requirements of hip hop. Thanks for SF for this.

US Open Cup

First Round Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jun 10
Carolina Railhawks v Brooklyn Knights
Real Maryland Monarchs v NY Pancyprian Freedoms
Richmond Kickers v Fredricksburg Gunners
Western Mass Pioneers v Boston Olympiakos
Minnesota Thunder v St Louis Lions
Michigan Bucks v Cleveland City Stars
AAC Eagles v Pittsburgh Riverhounds
Rochester Rhinos v RWB Adria
Austin Aztex v Atlanta Silverbacks
Miami FC Blues v Bradenton Academics
Charlotte Eagles v Clearwater Galactics
Charleston Battery v ASC New Stars
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Los Angeles Legends
Harrisburg City Islanders v Yakima Reds
Arizona Sahuaros v Seattle Sounders
Portland Timbers v Hollywood United
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Team USA

World Cup qualifying is finally here!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It all starts this Sunday June 15. With the first game of a home and away series, before the first of two group stages.
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USA v Barbados - 4pm central time on ESPN2 & Galavision from Home Depot Center in Carson California.
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This game is NOT sold out. It would be embarrassing to have empty seats.
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I will see all you Twin Citians at the Sweetwater for viewing.
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Nick Green of the Daily Breeze with the first of many previews we will see this week.
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Associated Press with an article on the lack of goal scoring chances much less goals in the three friendlies just ended.
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The return leg is the following Sunday, but we still have no TV details on that game. Could it even be remotely possible in the year 2008 that we will not get to see a qualifier on TV? I really hope not.
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The official team blog.
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US Soccer's Studio 90 video show with an episode on preparations for the qualifiers ahead.
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Give a special listen to Dave's Soccer Podcast this week (really, you should be listening every week) as host Dave Denholm explodes on USA coach Bob Bradley, his tactics and the handling of Freddy Adu. A little later Dave goes off on youth development in America. It's always great stuff from double D.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I will have the game schedule for all the other CONCACAF qualifiers posted in a day or two.
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MLS Scoreboard

Week 12
Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jun 12
Houston v New England - 8pm central on ESPN2
-Sat Jun 13
Toronto v Colorado - 6pm central on Direct Kick
DC v New York - 6:30pm central on HDNet
Kansas City v Columbus - 7pm central on Direct Kick
San Jose v Los Angeles - 9pm central on FSC
Chivas USA v Salt Lake - 9:30pm central on Direct Kick
-Sun Jun 15
Dallas v Chicago - 2pm central on TeleFutura
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

MLS Standings

Eastern Conference
23 New England (12)
19 Chicago (10)
19 Columbus (11)
17 Toronto (11)
15 New York (10)
13 DC (12)
12 Kansas City (10)
Western Conference
17 Los Angeles (11)
17 Houston (12)
15 Colorado (11)
14 Chivas (11)
13 Dallas (12)
12 Salt Lake (11)
10 San Jose (10)
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MLS News

CD CHIVAS USA

Steve Davis at MLSnet tells us that Preki is doing an even better job coaching this season than he did last. And hear I was, saying he is on the hot seat a couple weeks back.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

COLORADO RAPIDS

What were they doing last weekend wearing those burgundy/brown shirts with navy shorts - really frickin ugly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

FC DALLAS

3rd Degree is reporting that FCD will play a friendly against the mighty Chivas of Guadalajara at home on Sun Jun 29.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

HOUSTON DYNAMO

After a really slow start to the season, suddenly Brian Ching has 5 goals and Dwayne De Rosario has 4 and Houston are tied at the top of the West. Not too surprising
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

Yahoo has an article from the PA Sports Ticker about what it's like to be Landon Donovan today.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

You wanna know why teams keep giving Edson Buddle a chance? Cuz he has scored 58 times in the league. Not many can say that.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They have to be excited to get defender Ante Jazic back healthy. This is not saying a whole lot, but he instantly becomes the teams best defender.
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GENERAL

Steve Davis at Soccernet gives us a round up of Week 11 games. He does it better than anyone else.
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This has nothing to do with soccer, but the Wall Street Journal has an article on AEG (LA Galaxy) owner Phillip Anschutz and a battle he is in with the IRS. They say he owes them $143 Million from a style of deal he likes to make. I linked to this to show you just how wealthy this guy is.
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USL First Division Scoreboard

Matches & Scores:
-Thu Jun 12
Puerto Rico v Carolina
Portland v Atlanta
-Fri Jun 13
Montreal v Charleston
Rochester v Vancouver
-Sat Jun 14
Miami v Carolina
Minnesota v Atlanta
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USL First Division Standings

22 Vancouver (10)
20 Charleston (10)
17 Portland (13)
17 Seattle (11)
14 Minnesota (10)
13 Carolina (8)
12 Atlanta (9)
11 Miami (13)
8 Montreal (10)
7 Rochester (9)
6 Puerto Rico (7)
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Soccer In America

Adam Spangler of This Is American Soccer has a great interview with the one and only Ray Hudson. The former player and coach is now a near maniacal announcer on GolTV.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mexico & FMF News

One minute Mexican keeper Oswaldo Sanchez is mocking our main man Luis Arroyave of the Chicago Tribune, and the next thing we know Oswaldo ends up in jail - Unrelated? Maybe LA has that kinda power. Do not mess with him. From the Red Card blog.
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After you read that, imagine the uproar if an American player mocked the accent of a Mexican journalist in Mexico. He would be branded a racist and more. Again Sanchez bitch-assed punk attitude goes unpunished. (Remember when he tried to take out Eddie Johnson after LD had scored sealing yet another USA win over Mexico.)
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

More tidbits of info are coming out about Oswaldo's arrest. The cops used pepper spray on him when he wouldn't cooperate. That shit hurts, bad. So, you know, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
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European News

SPAIN

Some reports are saying that Barcelona has signed Brazilian right back Daniel Alves from Sevilla. But there has been no official word from either team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

OTHERS

After leading Fenerbahce to a great season coach Zico has not been able to agree on the terms of a new contract with the club so he will leave. Damn, he must have been asking for the world.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2008 UEFA European Championship News

Did you all enjoy Wesley Sneijder's goal for Holland against Italy as much as I did? What a brilliant team effort. And an end to end burner too. One minute Gio is clearing a ball of his own goal line, and the next Sneijder is smashing home a shot 120 yards away!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Leading Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta with the story on yesterday's game. And words from head coach Donadoni.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Turkish captain Emre will miss at least the next game and possibly the rest of the tournament after suffering a torn thigh muscle.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2008 UEFA European Championship Schedule

Group Stage Matches & Scores:
(all times are central)
-Sat Jun 7
Switzerland 0-1 Czech Republic - CR goal by Vaclav Sverkos.
Portugal 2-0 Turkey - 1:30pm - Port goals by Pepe & Raul Meireles.
-Sun Jun 8
Austria 0-1 Croatia - Croa goal by Luka Modric(PK).
Germany 2-0 Poland - Germ goals both by Lukas Podolski.
-Mon Jun 9
Romania 0-0 France
Netherlands v Italy - Neth goals by Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder & Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
-Tue Jun 10
Spain v Russia - 10:50am - ESPN2
Greece v Sweden - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Wed Jun 11
Czech Republic v Portugal - 10:50am - ESPN2
Switzerland v Turkey - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Thu Jun 12
Croatia v Germany - 10:50am - ESPN2
Austria v Poland - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Fri Jun 13
Italy v Romania - 10:50am - ESPN2
Netherlands v France - 1:30pm - ESPN2
-Sat Jun 14
Sweden v Spain - 10:50am - ESPN2
Greece v Russia - 1:30pm - ESPN2
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Group Standings
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jack Warner/FIFA Scandal News

Legendary soccer journalist Brian Glanville of World Soccer joins the growing voice asking a lot of questions about the antics of Jack Warner.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

World News

The Analouge blog with an article on the recent evolution in design of the ball. Very cool. Thanks to Gary for this one.