The Sin: Gluttony is one of the most digusting sins, and Maradona exemplifies it in the pic at left. By the time this shot was taken, the man who was the best player in the world (maybe ever) had indulged himself to excess on food, wine and drugs. He failed to abide by Proverbs 23:21, which states that "[f]or the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

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RSL and Chicago are going to square off on Saturday in a match where the Fire of Chicago have the unenviable task of playing the one team in the entire that no one wants a piece of anymore. If you asked me this is the perfect storm for the boys from Salt Lake and the worst storm for the Windy City squad.

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Lots of fallout from the tragic Robert Enke suicide. Here were the main stories from yesterday.
The guy was depressed, he left a good-bye note and Germany called off its friendly with Chile.
Oh and Goal.com caught up with Clint Mathis, an ex-teammate of the goalkeeper.
Now the links:

• Soccer violence extends to college men now.

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Salt Lake vs. Chicago: Saturday's MLS playoff teams have one thing in common -- their goalkeepers are the shortest starting netminders in the league. Chicago's Jon Busch is listed at 5-10; Salt Lake's Nick Rimando at 5-9.
"People that tell me I wasn't going to achieve anything because I was too short, I just remember that, and I like to shove it in their face whenever I can," Rimando says. Click to continue reading...

Chicago defeated the Revolution 2-0 to advance to the Eastern Conference Final of the MLS Cup Playoffs where they will have the privilege of hosting RSL (A.K.A. The team no one wants right now) on Saturday.

Chicago and RSL are walking two completely different paths to get to this point.

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The Columbus Crew quest for a repeat MLS Cup championship will ride on tonight's First Round playoff decider against Real Salt Lake at Crew Stadium (8pm, ESPN2).

The Crew will need to erase a 1-0 deficit from its first-leg loss at Rio Tinto Stadium to do win the series, and will welcome back reigning MLS MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who is expected to start after being benched for the first game.

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The Columbus Crew quest for a repeat MLS Cup championship will ride on tonight's First Round playoff decider against Real Salt Lake at Crew Stadium (8pm, ESPN2).

The Crew will need to erase a 1-0 deficit from its first-leg loss at Rio Tinto Stadium to do win the series, and will welcome back reigning MLS MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto, who is expected to start after being benched for the first game.

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Eric Brunner and Columbus try to slow down Yura Movsisyan and RSL tonight. (Getty Images)

Tonight the second leg of the first round playoff matches kickoff in Columbus as the Crew host Real Salt Lake. RSL holds a slight 1-0 lead in the goals department in this two-legged series thanks to the late goal from Robbie Rogers last weekend.

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Year end award nominees are coming out, and while no Wizards players are up the big awards, 3 Wizards are nominated for 2 awards.
Davy Arnaud and Claudio Lopez are both up twice for goal of the year. Arnaud's first blast against Toronto on the opening week of the season is one of his two nominated goals. Click to continue reading...

You get a phone call from Red Bull.

It's Erik Stover.

Is this another automated call to buy season tickets? Not this time.

You are offered the position of teams Sporting Director. And you jump at the chance.

But now what? Well, I turn it over to you -

What would you do to turn around this franchise ahead of the 2010 season?

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Die USA waren immer schon verrückter, schriller und schneller als wir. Das ist oftmals auch gut so, denn ich muss nicht alles haben, was dort drüben so super hip ist. An eines allerdings könnte ich mich gewöhnen, an die ausgefallenen Jubelposen. Kinder lernen dort schon sehr früh, wie man den Torerfolg richtig feiert. Click to continue reading...

The US is going to another World Cup. (Getty Images)

Editor's Note: Geoff Reid appears at WVHooligan each week. Today he is back to recap the recent World Cup clinching match for the US against Honduras. Feel free to leave Geoff your thoughts below.

It's been a few days since the US national team secured qualification for South Africa next summer so now would be a good time to recap the latest events that took place in San Pedro Sulsa on Saturday night.

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This was absolutely a nerve racking second half for the USA and all of us supporters. Who would've thought going down a goal in the 46th minute that the USA would gather their thoughts very quickly and go out on a three goal rampage and especially from Conor Casey by not scoring a goal, but two in a row.

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STARTERS
The last time the USA was in Honduras was late March of 2001. And while many things in American soccer have changed in just 8 years, others have stayed remarkably the same. The game that night was only shown in America via Pay Per View. (Sound familiar?) So, via the glory of Big Soccer, 8 of us lost souls met up in a basement in St Paul. Click to continue reading...

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The first two things you notice when you arrive in San Pedro Sula are the oven-like and unrelenting heat, and the general lack of police or military presence, which is only surprising after weeks of hearing about the political conflict that had rattled an otherwise peaceful Central American nation.

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The first two things you notice when you arrive in San Pedro Sula are the oven-like and unrelenting heat, and the general lack of police or military presence, which is only surprising after weeks of hearing about the political conflict that had rattled an otherwise peaceful Central American nation.

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DEDICATION
Today's episode is dedicated to the Edgar & Eric, the Jomfru brothers.
STARTERS
Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts is teaming up with Rush Limbaugh to bid for the St Louis Rams of the NFL.
TEAM USA
Frankie Hejduk, left fullback Columbus Crew, has been added to the roster. Click to continue reading...

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by FRANCO PANIZO

MIAMI- The U.S. men's national team has won just once on the road in the final round of World Cup qualifying, and Honduras has yet to lose at home this cycle, but those facts aren't keeping the U.S. team from believing that it can go to San Pedro Sula on Saturday and score a positive result.

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by FRANCO PANIZO

MIAMI- The U.S. men's national team has won just once on the road in the final round of World Cup qualifying, and Honduras has yet to lose a home qualifier this cycle, but those facts aren't keeping the U.S. team from believing that it can go to San Pedro Sula on Saturday and score a positive result.

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For the last two weeks we have seen RBNY basically pick up the pieces and strung together some decent results for themselves without the services of Juan Pablo Angel who had been nursing a sore ankle he picked up at training before this three match road trip began. While it's been a while ago that Juan Carlos Osorio has resigned from the club, it looks to be that the players are responding to the tactics of Richie Williams and has brought back that never die attitude that was so lacking from the start of the season up to the home match against FC Dallas in mid-August.

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Sometimes I wish I was Juan Pablo Angel. I would be rich. I would be handsome. I would wear fashionable quasi-Western, semi-flannel shirts. And I would score goals like a motherf*cker.
You might have been too busy laughing at RBNY's misfortune this season to notice but last week at Chivas USA, JPA broke the franchise scoring record previously held by Clint Mathis. Click to continue reading...

It was a crazy night at the Home Depot Center this past Saturday. Chivas USA facing the Red Bulls didn't quite have the sizzle fans would want out of their Game of the Week coming into it, but some matches hold surprises of their own.

Though anemic in the first half, the Bulls were able to rally from a 1-0 deficit to tie the game on an amazing header from El Angel Del Gol, The Cherubic Assasin, Juan Pablo Angel.

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Chivas 1 New York Red Bulls 1

Chivas USA let three points get away in this one, two ball-watching defenders (Jonathan Bornstein and Yamith Cuesta for those of you keeping count at home) allowing Juan Pablo Angel to get his 10th goal of the campaign with a determined header off a Sinisa Ubiparipovic six minutes from the end of regulation time.

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Background: Like Pablo, who I already enshrined, I love me somes Clint Mathis. How could you not love Clint, or "Cletus"Â as many fans call him due to his bad attitude and foolish demeanor. I love the man as a player, but most MLS fans hate him. After all he has broken their team's hearts with thrilling goals and their players knees with ugly tackles.

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The story was written by Steven Goff from the Washington Post and I have to say that once again supporters of the US Men's National team are going to get screwed. If you thought that you couldn't find the Mun2 channel for USA Vs Mexico in English then you will be completely out of luck on a possible clinch to South Africa when the live event won't be on Pay Per View.

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Jamison Olave played his heart out on a beautiful Saturday night in Sandy Utah and although a win would have been better, at least Real walked away with a tie and a point. A win and full points would have placed RSL into a three-way tie with Chivas and Colorado for fourth place in the West, but it is what it is.

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The Offside Rules had a bunch of these and turned me on to the YouTube channel of Volkswagen. These are high-quality entertainment.
1. Clint Mathis -- The Rockstar
2. William Conde -- The Matador
3. Geoff Cameron -- Bunny Hop
4. Javier Morales -- The Pinata
5. Click to continue reading...

My dad is a big follower of the blog. It's his birthday today.
Any ideas on a good present? Help me out in the comments.
To the links:

• Catching up with Clint Mathis. [SI]
  
• Quotes o' the week. [Sanford's Soccer Net]
  
• Some Luka Modric ad. [Off the Post]
  
• Barca's ESPN ratings.

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Tomorrow, RSL heads off to New England to play the Revolution and the game promises to be a cracker as most of the RSL games have been recently. Seriously, I am not sure that the game can reach the level of the cage-match against the Dynamo last week in Rio Tinto, but Real and the Revolution are sitting at similar places in their respective tables and both teams need points to have a chance at the playoffs.

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Things may be astir today along the Wasatch Front.
According to a Salt Lake City based source Real Salt Lake striker Yura Movsisyan may be finally headed to Danish side Randers FC. Also it appears a breaking story that has yet to surface is that Clint Mathis may be retiring immediately. Click to continue reading...

There has been more dirty laundry being floated around the final season of the swamp and in the practice facility at Montclair State University when it comes to both Head Coach Juan Carlos Osorio & Sporting Director Jeff Agoos. Michael Lewis of the New York Daily News has reported on his Big Apple Soccer Blog that there is a possibility that Juan Pablo Angel might not return to the club either thru the new coach or could make the decision on his own.

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Another Major League Soccer week, another unsavoury incident featuring David Beckham. After suggesting the former England captain would be good for MLS in the long-term despite the revelations made by Grant Wahl upon Beckham's return, it's disappointing to witness some of his more immature behaviour since heading back to LA from Italy in July. Click to continue reading...

The MLS Goal of the Week race isn't much of a race this week. While Dwayne DeRosario, Steve Zakuani, Chris Rolfe and Maykel Galindo had nice finishes, the Columbus Crew's Eddie Gaven should walk away with the award for his half-field run and finish in the Crew's 2-0 win vs. FC Dallas on Saturday.

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The MLS Goal of the Week race isn't much of a race this week. While Dwayne DeRosario, Steve Zakuani, Chris Rolfe and Maykel Galindo had nice finishes, the Columbus Crew's Eddie Gaven should walk away with the award for his half-field run and finish in the Crew's 2-0 win vs. FC Dallas on Saturday.

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Last evening I caught a bit of the RSL and Houston Dynamo game and I was reminded of the incessant verbiage of Max Bretos and Christopher Sullivan who have the attention spans of fruit flies. Their attention to the match waxes and wanes as they offer their diatribe on what the match should look like which bears little resemblance to how the match is actually playing out.

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