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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I know I normally take the weekend's off but I do think this news is noteworthy enough to get me to the laptop to type it out. Steve Goff reported earlier today that former New York Red Bull academy player and Rutgers star Dilly Duka is set to sign with Major League Soccer.

Instead of exploring options in Europe like he had hoped after he left Rutgers earlier this fall, Duke now is set to sign a four-year deal with the league.

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Upsets continue to be a common occurrence in college soccer this fall. Just when one team makes a jump up the rankings, they'll face a tough or surprising opponent. This time it was No. 9 Duke, who had made strides in the rankings after upsetting then-No. 2 Maryland. Duke received a taste of their own medicine on Tuesday night.

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Upsets continue to be a common occurrence in college soccer this fall. Just when one team makes a jump up the rankings, they'll face a tough or surprising opponent. This time it was No. 9 Duke, who had made strides in the rankings after upsetting then-No. 2 Maryland. Duke received a taste of their own medicine on Tuesday night.

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The Akron Zips continue to be unstoppable. At this stage of the season, the Zips have begun their important conference schedule and look to roll through their opponents. This time around it was a 3-0 defeat of Florida Atlantic, proving that Akron can win on the road as well as at home. They'll have to back that up over the next two weeks, with three straight games away from home.

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The Akron Zips continue to be unstoppable. At this stage of the season, the Zips have begun their important conference schedule and look to roll through their opponents. This time around it was a 3-0 defeat of Florida Atlantic, proving that Akron can win on the road as well as at home. They'll have to back that up over the next two weeks, with three straight games away from home.

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Jeff Baker at New University wrote an interesting article today about David Beckham and his contributions (or lack thereof) to the development of soccer in North America. It's true that this is a tough market to crack. We seem to love technical games like football and baseball or fighting games like boxing, ultimate fighting, wrestling and hockey.

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The Lady Bear's open MVC play today at Plaster, 1:00 pm start. I'm betting they handle the challenge much better than the football team did! The men play at Southern Methodist today.

Missouri State Lady Bears
Northern Iowa Panthers

Missouri State Bears -
Southern Methodist Mustangs -

Missouri State Bears 0 (FRIDAY's Game)
Houston Baptist Huskies 1
The Huskies got their goal in the 89th minute off an Adam Jakle pass into the box that Duke Ogega put in the corner of the net.

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Tyler Lassiter scored twice and Chrystel Bakong and Ronnie Bouemboue added goals as North Carolina State shut out the University of Denver on Friday at the Duke/Nike Classic in Durham, N.C.

Lassiter scored at the 40-minute mark off a corner kick and added a second goal 60 minutes into the game.

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Their Champions League Group is Group E:

Liverpool
Lyon
Fiorentina
Debreceni VSC

We've never played Liverpool in the Champions League before, but we did have two interesting encounters against Fiorentina last season. As for Debreceni VSC, they are a Hungarian team debuting in the Champions League for the first time ever.

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Mark Viduka one of Australia's greatest sportsmen is in danger of leaving the game with a stain around his image.
If he's retired from professional football, club football fair enough. But when he decided or if he has decided to step down finally from the National team the country deserves better. Click to continue reading...

The University of Denver men's soccer team was ranked No. 25 in the nation in the TopDrawerSoccer.com preseason ranking.

The Web site ranks the top 48 teams in NCAA Division I men's soccer. Akron, St. John's, Creighton, California and Maryland made up the top five.

The Pioneers will face a host of ranked teams this season: No.

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Australia's greatest ever player Mark Viduka looks sets to attempt to finish his career in the style a player of his ability deserved.
The Duke never played for a top side other than Celtic in Scotland, flirting with Leeds who were in the Dukes day on a roll for awhile.
Middlesboro and Newcastle; what was that all about. Click to continue reading...

The field of candidates has been narrowed to a whopping 45 with the trimming of 13 candidates. Raymond James Stadium is on the newly shortened bid list, but is by no means a lock. In stadium terms, RJS will be a dinosaur come 2018/22 with new NFL play palaces being built every year or so.
I would guess that Florida is going to get a spot, mainly due to the popularity of the state as a tourist destination. Click to continue reading...

Yes, it's been awhile, but by the time May had rolled around (we begin months on the tenth or thereabouts) we decided to eliminate the confusion and allow the lads to duke it out on the field. They did, someone won, and selecting the best team became a mere formality. (That'd be golden Barcelona if [. Click to continue reading...

Yeah, it's a bit nicer than BMO Field, innit?
Real Madrid are coming to Toronto, now with 100% more Kaka. Before checking my email yesterday, I stupidly had it in my naive little head that MLSE's 'loyalty discount' for season ticket holders would be substantial. Although fifteen, twenty bucks off is nice, I'm not sure it makes sense when the ticket in question is going for $130. Click to continue reading...

Women's Soccer Weekly speaks to former Duke forward Kelly Hathorn. Check it out -- Kelly Hathorn: Q and A Interview Click to continue reading...

After a cracking pair of semifinal deciders, the UEFA Cup Final card is complete with Shakhtar Donetsk and Werder Bremen set to duke it out on May 20th in Istanbul. Each will be a first time finalist in the last edition of the tourney, though Bremen did win a Cup Winners Cup back in 1992.Shakhtar Donetsk 2 Dinamo Kyiv 1 (Shakhtar advances 3-2)Hamburg 2 Werder Bremen 3 (3-3 aggregate, Bremen Click to continue reading...

He's back, the big fella, but his team is going down.
52,000 Geordies will be crying in their beer if as expected they don't get the points they need in the next four games.
And it will make for great TV....unless you are a Geordie fan.
Must admit watching the last game of the English season is always a hoot, something about watching football fans cying when their team goes down. Click to continue reading...

A referee I've worked with for a while, went to Regionals with him and he has a lower threshold for carding someone than I do. That's fine - it doesn't make him or myself any better or worse. But if the teams are up for it, I do like to let them play physical, be it men or women. And this women's game was one of the few that has been even between the boarding school and just about anyone - it was against a newly formed superclub (a merger between two of the best clubs in the state, and the local professional soccer team). Click to continue reading...

Atlante took a major step towards representing CONCACAF at the FIFA Club World Cup by handing Cruz Azul a 2-0 loss in the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League final on Wednesday in Estadio Azul.
The two road goals are a major advantage for Atlante, who will head home in a comfortable position ahead of what could be an historic achievement for Atlante. Click to continue reading...

After the USA's big win yesterday, Mexico stepped up and put a thumping on Trinidad & Tobago in front of a raucous packed house at Estadio Caliente this afternoon.
The capacity crowd went crazy as Mexico scored three goals in the first 28 minutes and never let up. They now have sole possession of first place in Group B because Costa Rica tied Guatemala earlier in the day. Click to continue reading...

I'm having a hard time figuring out whether New York RedBulls fans are, on the whole relieved or saddened by COMMISSIONER DON GARBER'S UNEQUIVOCAL DENIAL of the rumor about the team being sold.
On the one hand, a lot of fans have never been particularly comfortable with the whole "Corporate/Energy Drink" angle, and while there are some out there who turned their back on the team the day the Austrian caffeine vendor took over, by and large most of the locals were able to hold their nose through the Metrostars-to-RedBull transition and continute to support the side. Click to continue reading...

Mr Burley's love of the Duke inspired a backs to the wall defensive approachGeorge Burley is delighted to have Barry Ferguson back. Barry Ferguson believes we can defy the odds and that we'll fight like "rats."And that seems to be it for the optimism. The number of injuries, the memories of the last trip to Holland have all seemed to simply add to the general sense of malaise that has been a Click to continue reading...

I believe that the answer to that question is a resounding no.  Oklahoma might have the slimmest of chances ... but barring injuries, I don't see anyone getting in the way of the Huskies' march toward a national championship.  The battle will be to see who the other three teams are in the Final Four. Click to continue reading...

I'm loving the warmer temps here in NH, as the sun rises on this February Sunday! Have you heard of Jennifer Figge?  She just completed the amazing feat of swimming from the Cape Verde Islands to Trinidad ... at the age of 56.  (And I can't even get myself to exercise for 15 minutes these days!)  [. Click to continue reading...

When Mike Grella passed on the 2009 MLS draft, it was unclear where the Duke striker would test the professional soccer waters. It appears his quest for a professional contract has landed him in England.

Grella is on trial with Leeds United, and scored three goals in Leeds' reserve match against Barnsley on Tuesday.

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One of the oddest stories I noticed yesterday was about Plaxico Burress shooting himself in the leg. That seems a particularly inept and bizarre move in a strange year for Plaxico. The Redskins-Giants game was looking like a close call anyway - but now that Mr. Burress has removed himself from the field again (I'm [. Click to continue reading...

November 23, 2008 - It was a showdown in Tinseltown. Cross-town rivals USC and UCLA played last night in the Third Round of the NCAA Women's Soccer Championships. It was a cool night and in typical SoCal fashion, spectators wore everything from shorts and flip flops to wool caps and winter coats (I was happy to [. Click to continue reading...

The NSCAA Game of the Week on Fox Soccer Channel will feature the #3 UNC Tar Heel Women taking on #10 Duke in Durham at Koskinen Stadium. The match will be played Thursday, October 2nd, starting at 8PM Eastern. So if you coach a competitive girls team, this might be a good match to recommend [...] Click to continue reading...

The NSCAA Game of the Week on Fox Soccer Channel will feature the #3 UNC Tar Heel Women taking on #10 Duke in Durham at Koskinen Stadium. The match will be played Thursday, October 2nd, starting at 8PM Eastern. So if you coach a competitive girls team, this might be a good match to recommend [...] Click to continue reading...

The NSCAA Game of the Week on Fox Soccer Channel will feature the #3 UNC Tar Heel Women taking on #10 Duke in Durham at Koskinen Stadium. The match will be played Thursday, October 2nd, starting at 8PM Eastern. So if you coach a competitive girls team, this might be a good match to recommend [...] Click to continue reading...

Michael Videira, a two-time Hermann Trophy finalist and second-round draft pick of the New England Revolution, has officially signed with Hamilton Academical of the Scottish Premier League.The former all-New England midfielder was one of a trio of signings announced Friday by "The Accies", who were just promoted to the SPL for this season. Click to continue reading...

In a stunning soccer match during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games Argentina defeated Brazil 3-0 - August 19, 2008. Perhaps arguably the two best teams in the world faced it off for a chance at the gold. Argentina will now have to duke it out with Nigeria for the Gold or Silver medals. [...] Click to continue reading...

The U.S. women play New Zealand at 4:45 a.m. Tuesday on MSNBC with a quarterfinal berth on the line.

A win will clinch the second spot in the group behind Norway for the U.S., although a tie will be enough if Norway beats Japan.

The last time the two nations met, just before the 2007 Women's World Cup, the U.

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