Farrah Fawcett & Sons Plumbling Company News

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho on what happens after next weeks return leg of the Champions League series v Valencia: "If we win, we go to the semi-final, but if not, I intend to go to Earl's Court to watch the WWE Wrestling with my kids instead."


CONCACAF Champions Cup Semifinal second leg matches!
Tonight-
Pachuca v Houston - live at 8:30pm central on Fox Soccer Channel
-Admission to tonight's game in Pachuca is FREE!
Previews:
-Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle compares the two teams.
-And Fallas's pregame notes
-Luis Bueno of LA Soccer News says Galaxy coach Frank Yallop will be cheering for Houston tonight, but after that he & his team fly to Houston to start the season on Sunday night and the cheering is over.
Tuesday-
Guadalajara 2-1 DC United - Chivas win 3-2 on aggregate.
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ADDITION: Last night on the Dynamo Power Hour radio show, host Glenn Davis, also of the Houston Chronicle, reported that a very reliable source told him that representatives of three very big Italian players had contacted MLS about the possibilities of playing in the league. Those three are: Alessandro Del Piero, Fabio Cannavaro and (get this) Marco Materazzi! Who knows. Will it happen? Probably not, but at least they are interested. That's exciting to me.
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A couple days ago we linked to a Q & A with Eric Wynalda from the Fulham USA web site. It was the usual Wynalda screed. He praised and he dogged. One person who got it real bad was radio and tv host Jim Rome who is a macho dufus and regular soccer basher. Now Wynalda has apologized for what he said about Romey. Awwwww. Anything to save yer job huh Eric? And here again is the original interview where EW goes off. Thank you thank you thank you to Fulham USA for this gem.
(NOTE: Wynalda called in to Jim Rome's radio show and personally apologized, saying his words were taken out of context, and it was meant as a joke. Rome accepted, then ripped soccer some more.)
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The video clip from ESPN of Allen Hopkins with the latest MLS news is now up on Soccernet. Near the end he talks about Richard Mulrooney not wanting to play for Toronto. Hopkins keeps calling them FC Toronto, instead of Toronto FC which should piss off the locals. (Sorry but there is no direct link to the clip, so go to the page and search around for it.)
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Looks like Ronnie O'Brien injured his knee not because of the fake grass in Toronto's new stadium, but by trying to kick a teammate that he was mad at, during practice. Oh Ronnie, why so sour all the time? This is why Dallas was happy to get rid of him.
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Morgan Campbell at the Toronto Star tries to assess who will fill O'Brien's role on the field.
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And this guy who writes for the Star is an idiot. Please pick a real topic to write about buddy. Not this crap: Should we call the team FC or TFC? Come on!
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The Toronto Sun takes a look at the Canadians on the TFC roster.
-Another story from the Sun looks at the 18 players going to LA for opening day v Chivas USA.
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Long time Chicago & USA midfielder Chris Armas has announced that this will be his last season in MLS as a player. His next step is coaching. From the Chicago Tribune.
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Andrew Hush at Soccer New England talks to Rev's left winger Khano Smith. I think Smith needs to be one of a few players on his squad to have a break-out year for his team to make big noise.
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Michael Lewis from Big Apple Soccer talks to New York coach Bruce Arena about his team as the season begins.
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Dylan Butler at MLSnet takes a look at the 07 prospects for New York's young star Jozy Altidore.
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George Tanner at the Rocky Mountain News attended the Colorado Rapids "dress rehearsal" at Dicks. It was Burgundy v Blue.
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I don't ever recall one word coming from Colorado that defender Aitor Karanka would not be back this season. But he's not. So what happened?
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Columbus are still chasing that Argentine midfielder. Whoever it may be.
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Shawn Mitchell of the Columbus Dispatch with the story of Robbie Rogers who recently left Heerenveen in Holland to come home and play in MLS, for the Crew.
-Mark Connolly of the US Players Assoc with a feature on Rogers too.
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Jon Busch lands in Chicago, for now. Will he last? He was cut by Columbus, then tried to catch on in Toronto. If Chicago is no go, then next stop .... Virginia Beach?
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The Dallas Morning News is reporting that FC Dallas striker Roberto Mina is out of action with a sprained knee. He had surgery on the same knee last year.
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And Dallas's newest signing, midfielder Pablo Ricchetti of Argentina, is not available to play yet as his contract and work visa are not completed.
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The BBC with a story on new Dallas coach Steve Morrow of Northern Ireland.
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Bob Luder at the KC Star looks at the Wizards potential new Argentine midfielder Carlos Marinelli.
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Luis Bueno writing for MLSnet says Amado Guevara is all Chivas now.
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Allen Hopkins of Soccernet does the Q & A with Freddy Adu about the Salt Lake season.
-Freddy also does a Q & A with UEFA.com.
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James Edwards at the Deseret Morning News looks at how Real Salt Lake has tried to shore up their ugly defense from last season.
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Sports Illustrated with their MLS season previews:
-Preseason Power Rankings - with some prediction notes too.
-Jonah Freedman - Peering Into The Crystal Ball - season preview & predictions.
-Nothing yet from Grant Wahl. We will wait patiently.
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Some of the staff at the US Players Assoc, Ian Plenderleith, Tony Edwards, Kevin McGeehan & Bill Urban, sit down together and discuss the upcoming MLS season.
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FIFA.com preview season 12 in MLS.
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Looks like Celtic and Siena are fighting over American midfielder Greg Dalby. Good for him.
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US Soccer with a video feature on USA & Dallas forward Kenny Cooper and his father, from a family of soccer players.
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In addition to their June 2 match v USA in San Jose, China will train in this country from May 31 to June 11, and play friendly's v the Los Angeles Galaxy & the Colorado Rapids.
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Looks like American goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann at Reading will be OK after a slight hip injury took him out of last weekend's game v Tottenham. He is likely to start this weekend v Liverpool.
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For the last week or so we have been hearing rumblings from Mexican defender Rafa Marquez that the Gold Cup will interfere with the end of Barcelona's season in Spain. Word comes now that he has officially declared himself OUT of the Mexican team for the CONCACAF title tournament.
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Copa Libertadores - here are the week's matches:
Apr 03
Nacional 3-1 Emelec
Colo Colo 4-0 LDU Quito
El Nacional 0-1 Banfield
Apr 04
Cienciano 3-0 Boca Juniors
Sao Paulo 3-0 Necaxa
Maracaibo 1-2 Flamengo
-Match reports via Sports Illustrated.
Apr 05
Caracas - River Plate
Defensor Sporting - Santos
Deportivo Pasto - Gimnasia
-With 2 rounds of the group stage still to be played both Santos & Flamengo have already qualified for the knock out stages.
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UEFA Cup quarterfinals - today:
AZ Alkmaar v Werder Bremen
Bayer Leverkusen v Osasuna
Sevilla v Tottenham Hotspur
Espanyol v Benfica
-Return legs to take place April 12.
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Champions League quarterfinals - Matchday 9 starts today!
Wednesday-
Roma 2-1 Manchester United - Roma goals by Taddei & Mirko Vucinic. Man U goal by Wayne Rooney. Paul Scholes was red carded after several terrible tackles garnered him 2 yellow cards.
Chelsea 1-1 Valencia - David Silva scored first for Valencia, and Didier Drogba equalized for Chelsea.
Tuesday-
Milan 2-2 Bayern Munich - goals by Pirlo & Kaka for Milan, and 2 by Van Buyten for Bayern. What a comeback, and it should have been a win as Milan got a really dodgy PK call.
PSV 0-3 Liverpool - goals by Gerard, Riise & Crouch. It was a rout!
-Matchday 10 on April 10 & 11.
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I think this is proof that the security upgrades from a couple months ago in Italy were pure fiction - Word from Rome is that things got ugly in the stands with Roma and Man U fans throwing things at each other over a barrier, then Rome cops jumped in and beat the hell out of several Man U fans. No word on whether or not Roma fans were beaten as well. Another Man U fan was stabbed right outside the stadium and said there were no police anywhere to be found for help. He is in the hospital. Sounds awful. Why does this go on in so many places?
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Rob Hughes of the International Herald Tribune with words on the Champions League matches on the pitch - and - violence in the stands.
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Soccernet's The Insider attended the Chelsea v Valencia match and files this report.
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She seems impressed by Cristiano's juggling skills. (thanks Bucky)
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The Guardian tries to figure out how Fredric Kanoute has become the best striker in La Liga.
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Robert Zeigler on his blog at Top Drawer Soccer interviews Chelsea youth team player & soon to be Israeli senior squad star striker Ben Sahar.
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The latest powerhouse of a column from Fulham defender Mortiz Volz, at the Times of London. His stuff always goes straight to the top of my reading pile.
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With no surprise to anyone who reads du Nord regularly, Colorado Rapids owner Stan Kroenke has bought just under 10% ownership in Arsenal. This was reported to be happening last week, and Kroenke's rep denied it, but we could all see it coming. You can expect him to continue buying chunks of the team as they become available from other stock holders. From the Times of London.