When I travel abroad, people often tell me that the United States is good at soccer only because they import foreigners to play for the national team. While this strategy was key in our development as a soccer nation, it is far, far less common today. The 1990s saw the US scour European leagues for players with American connections, coming up with gems such as Ernie Stewart and Thomas Dooley (both of whom had American servicemen fathers) and duds such as David Wagner and David Regis (the latter was a Frenchman whose late call-up into the 1998 World Cup squad led to great friction within the team and was a large part of the team's horrible showing in that tournament).

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Hull dropped Jozy Altidore for arriving late for the team's 0-0 draw with Portsmouth, the club said Monday, and the American striker will now be fined for having apologized on his Twitter site.

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In 1991, some 30 years after the Ballon d'Or was first awarded to Sir Stanley Matthews, FIFA commenced the awarding of their own award. The FIFA World Player of the Year.

The award uses a Borda Count system to tally votes. Simply put a Borda count involves voters ranking their candidates in order of preference.

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Cristiano Ronaldo entered the Real Madrid record books last night, becoming the first player to score a goal in each of the four opening fixtures in La Liga, and what a goal it was. In just the 2nd minute of the game, Ronaldo received the ball on the half way line, his first touch being a flick to cut inside, and then he proceeded to sprint down the pitch, evading the tackles from 2 or 3 Villarreal defenders, before shooting low and hard into the corner of the net from just outside the 18 yard box.

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To say it's been a contrasting start to the season for the two major teams in Madrid would be a massive understatement. On one side, Real are already starting to look like the real deal and currently sit top of the La Liga table with 11 goals and 9 points from their opening three matches.

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American striker Jozy Altidore has struggled to get playing time at Villareal and has been looking for a club where he can get consistent playing time. Rumors started circulating this summer (especially with his performance in the Confederations Cup) that a few Premier League clubs were interested in a loan deal.

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Hull City's summer long search for a center-forward has came to an end with the news that USA striker Jozy Altidore has been loaned to Hull City for the season from Jozy's Spanish club Villarreal.

Altidore's problem last season was his lack of playing time after joining Villarreal from the New York Red Bulls in June 2008.

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Jozy Altidore's transfer to Hull City has been anything but discreet. So much so, that today the U.S. striker all but announced a loan move to English Premier League Hull City on his Twitter site, keeping his fans updated while Hull remained silent on the transfer.
Altidore, who is owned by Spanish club Villarreal, alerted followers to a potential move on Tuesday when he informed them he would be up early on Wednesday morning for a flight to England. Click to continue reading...

United States National Team player Jose Altidore will be spending the 2009-10 season in the English Premier League with Hull City, pending a work permit. Altidore's contract is owned by La Liga club Villarreal Click to continue reading...

I know this has absolutely nothing to do with the Crew but it's still great news for American soccer.

Jozy Alitdore is telling the world that he's off to England. And the Daily Mail is confirming, saying:

"Hull are ready to rival Fulham in a bid for highly-rated America striker Jozy Altidore.

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I know this has absolutely nothing to do with the Crew but it's still great news for American soccer.

Jozy Alitdore is telling the world that he's off to England. And the Daily Mail is confirming, saying:

"Hull are ready to rival Fulham in a bid for highly-rated America striker Jozy Altidore.

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According to Spanish club Villarreal, a loan to an English club for US national team forward Jozy Altidore will be completed in the next 24-48 hours. Click to continue reading...

Jozy Altidore seems to be handling this Twitter thing a little better than Darren Bent.

While Bent tossed his toys out of the pram in 140 characters or less, the teenage American striker calmly tweeted to his followers:

England early in the morning so im going to get some sleep ill tweet all day tomorrow on my bb and let you guys know whats going on!

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Xabi Alonso wants his future sorted out before the weekend but faces the dilemma of whether to go public on his desire to leave Liverpool for Real Madrid.
The Spain midfielder has reportedly already told Anfield boss Rafa Benitez that he wants to be part of the Bernabeu revolution and is said to be frustrated by the lack of progress on a deal. Click to continue reading...

Spurs are hoping to recuperate as much as possible of the €16.5 million they paid for the Russian international striker Roman Pavlyuchenko last summer. According to a report in the British broadsheet The Times, Premier League outfit Tottenham Hotspur have told Primera Division club Villarreal to stump up cash plus Marcos Senna and Sebastian Eguren for [. Click to continue reading...

Spurs are hoping to recuperate as much as possible of the €16.5 million they paid for the Russian international striker Roman Pavlyuchenko last summer. According to a report in the British broadsheet The Times, Premier League outfit Tottenham Hotspur have told Primera Division club Villarreal to stump up cash plus Marcos Senna and Sebastian Eguren for [. Click to continue reading...

By Josh Allen - Giuseppe Rossi could be set for a return to Italy, according to his agent Federico Pastorello.
The 22 year old was one of the few players to come out of Italy's recent Confederations Cup (http://betting.betfair.com/international-football/internationals/confederations-cup-betting-a-dress-rehearsal-of-th-100609. Click to continue reading...

Manuel Pellegrini is seen as the ideal manager to get the best out of the Galácticos, both tactically and mentally.
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Real Madrid's Galáctico project has so far attracted it's first big money star in Kaka but their best signing could arguably be securing the signature of coach Manuel Pelligrini from Villarreal.

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Se termina el contrato del argentino naturalizado mexicano Guillermo Franco en el Club Villarreal de España y ya no se vestirá con sus colores, ya que en ésta última jornada no tendrá acción por acumulación de tarjetas. Así que el Guille pidió permiso para regresar� a México para concentrarse con la Selección Mexicana ya que fue convocado para los dos partidos que tendrá la selección mexicana en las eliminatorias rumbo al mundial de Sudáfrica 2010.

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Se termina el contrato del argentino naturalizado mexicano Guillermo Franco en el Club Villarreal de España y ya no se vestirá con sus colores, ya que en ésta última jornada no tendrá acción por acumulación de tarjetas. Así que el Guille pidió permiso para regresar� a México para concentrarse con la Selección Mexicana ya que fue convocado para los dos partidos que tendrá la selección mexicana en las eliminatorias rumbo al mundial de Sudáfrica 2010.

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