It was a difficult year for the Bay Area boot squad, but an easy choice on who to ask for some answers. Sorting through the Earthquakes rubble for us is ESPN & Center Line Soccer all-star Jeff Carlisle.NSC: What went wrong?JC: Just about everything. Players like Francisco Lima and Scott Sealy werent adequately replaced at the start of the season. Click to continue reading...

Galaxy 1 Chivas USA 0

Game story

The Houston Dynamo are up next at 8 p.m. Friday in the Western Conference Championship. (live ESPN2).

Notable: This will be the first ever postseason meeting between the Galaxy and Dynamo (the former Earthquakes, of course), which advanced to the Conference Championship today with a 1-0 aggregate goal series win over the Seattle Sounders.

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Galaxy 2 Earthquakes 0

After a rather listless first half, an end to end move by the Galaxy in the 77th minute has appeared to seal the win.

Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts started the play, getting the ball to David Beckham, who passed to Landon Donovan, who in turn got it out wide to substitute Chris Klein on the wing.

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The possibilities are endless for tonight's game in terms of where the Galaxy will end up in the standings.

The Earthquakes will be looking to put a season that initially promised so much behind them. Personally, I think the biggest mistake was getting rid of Ronnie O'Brien, but whatever.

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After their irmãos lost to Ghana in the painful U-20 World Cup final last week, Lucho Nizzo's kids are raring to go and win the U-17 World Cup in Nigeria, which kicks off tomorrow! We could probably call them fetos (fetuses) for now, but Coutinho doesn't look like one, so we'd best find another name.

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Game story.

Highlights

Notable: Chivas USA are undefeated in their last six games.

But they also haven't scored more than two goals in a game all season long.

MLS standings

Quotable:

"I tried to warn the group (that) there is no easy games.

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Chivas USA 2 Earthquakes 2

A Justin Braun header in the 66th minute from an Ante Jazic cross has restored parity. It looked suspiciously close to being offside, too.

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Ahh, this is looking to be quite the match up!

The Galaxy, Dynamo, and Chivas are all tied for first in the Western Conference with 44 points each. So this match will likely determine the first place team in the Western Conference. Only two games remain for our Galaxy they play the Earthquakes at home next Saturday to end the regular season.

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Chivas USA 1 Earthquakes 1

San Jose have pulled level after 21 minutes, former Galaxy defender Brandon McDonald heading home a Shea Salinas cross from close range, splitting two Chivas USA defenders in the process. A free kick on the right wing started the move.

No shutout for Chivas USA tonight then.

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Chivas USA 1 Earthquakes 0

Maykel Galindo has put Chivas USA one-up after just seven minutes, after chasing down a long Sacha Kljestan ball that completely split the defense. Galindo outraced two defenders and put the ball past goalkeeper Andrew Weber from about 12 yards.

It's Galindo's fourth goal of the season and Kljestan's third assist.

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(I know that picture has nothing to do with this post, but thought it was great!)
Wow, is MLS actually taking (gasp!) an international break this weekend? Not really, but only three games are scheduled after Dallas' completely undeserved win courtesy of that clear offsides from both Dax McCarty and Jeff Cunningham in San Jose the other day. Click to continue reading...

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The MLS playoffs don't begin for another three weeks but tonight will offer us an elimination game with some playoff-like drama.

FC Dallas visits San Jose tonight (10pm, Direct Kick) in a match both teams need to win in order to maintain any realistic chance in the MLS playoff race.

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The MLS playoffs don't begin for another three weeks but tonight will offer us an elimination game with some playoff-like drama.

FC Dallas visits San Jose tonight (10pm, Direct Kick) in a match both teams need to win in order to maintain any realistic chance in the MLS playoff race.

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New England goalkeeper Matt Reis starts to lean to his right as Rapids striker Conor Casey takes aim for the other side of the net in the 58th minute on Saturday night at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. (photo by Jonathan Ingraham/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

On Sept. 18, Rapids striker Conor Casey scored a second-half goal on a penalty kick at San Jose.

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Here it is. Like The Riddle Of The Great Pyramids, the Red Bulls have been staring at this mathematical equation for the better part of two seasons now, and that number continues to escalate. 25 game winless streak on the road. Another Osorio record. But can Richie turn it around against San Jose?

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This weekend had set itself up really nicely for DC United. After losses by Seattle and RSL, and ties by Colorado, Chivas, and Toronto, DC United only needed a home victory against the worst road team in the leauge in order to move into 5th place. But the underdogs continued to impress. Not only did United lose, but they really deserved to lose. Click to continue reading...

It was a light schedule in Major League Soccer with World Cup Qualifying so the Power Rankings for this week have not changed much. A few teams who did play, the Colorado Rapids and Kansas City Wizards, did move up as they both had wins. The Rapids improved their playoff chances with a 1-0 win at home against Toronto FC while the Wizards won at New England with a 4-2 victory.

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With just six League games remaining in the 2009 regular season, United is right in the thick of a closely contested playoff race. With 33 points, United is currently tied - with New England, Chivas USA and Real Salt Lake - for the final two playoff spots. The good news for United fans is that the team begins a five game League homestand Wednesday against the Kansas City Wizards.

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Here we go:

• City closing in on David Bentley?
  
• Fergie rules out late moves.
  
• Juve signs Grosso.
  
• Gudjohnsen and Monaco.
  
• Interest in DaMarcus Beasley?
  
• Earthquakes are buying.
  
• Tottenham eyes Kranjcar.
  
• Here's an extensive roundup.

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San Jose built a rock-solid defense in 2008, but hasn't enjoyed the same defensive success in 2009. Kyle McCarthy talks with Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop and defender Chris Leitch to figure out why one of the league's most consistent units has struggled in 2009.
He scored a goal. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards had looked to pick up a point on the road with a 0-0 draw with San Jose yesterday until late in second half stoppage time. San Jose then found the back of the net through Chris Wondolowski, and the Wizards fell for the third straight game and 4th time in 6 league games. The team's winless streak has now reached 11 games in all competitions when you factor in the Open Cup and SuperLiga. Click to continue reading...

The Wizards are running out of time to right the ship and try to make a run up the table. They visit the Earthquakes in a match between teams that certainly had higher expectations for the 2009 than what they have been able to achieve up to now.

I liked the effort and the passing from KC last weekend (they tried to get away from "everything is a long ball" style of play) but their finishing let them down and they got shut out once again.

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Some more tough news for San Jose Earthquake fans, your new stadium project is now getting put on hold. Earthquakes owner Lew Wolff has cooled off on a projected 2012 opening date for a new stadium for the club, citing lack of sponsor interest and financial delays.

Wolff says the club still needs $5 million in sponsorship to get project off the ground.

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I know we're still four months away from the 2010 edition. While it's too early to look into the possible order or prospects, already there have been a decent number of picks traded. I'm going to list them here. Unfortunately, many are of the conditional variety, which makes it hard to sort things out. Click to continue reading...

It's come to this. With last night's humiliating 2-1 home loss to Trinidadian club W Connection, the New York Red Bulls have shot the rest of this horrible 2009 season to smithereens. With nine meaningless league matches to play, the worst season in MLS history will come to a merciful end on Saturday, October 24th against visiting Toronto FC. Click to continue reading...

If you need a penalty kick converted to win a tournament there aren't many players you would rather have standing at the spot than Alessandro Del Piero. The World Cup winner and Juventus legend figured to have the edge when he faced off against Aston Villa goalkeeper and U.S. International Brad Guzan with one kick to make to secure a Peace Cup title.

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If you need a penalty kick converted to win a tournament there aren't many players you would rather have standing at the spot than Alessandro Del Piero. The World Cup winner and Juventus legend figured to have the edge when he faced off against Aston Villa goalkeeper and U.S. International Brad Guzan with one kick to make to secure a Peace Cup title.

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Debacle en la bahía, Los Sounders aplastados. GLEN 54´                                 ALONSO-Autogol 2´ HUCKERBY 78´                         RILEY- Tarjeta Roja 32´ WONDOLOWSKI 84´  Para Los Seattle Sounders FC, abrir la serie de tres partidos seguidos fuera de casa ante Los Earthquakes de San José, les habia dado cierta confianza. Click to continue reading...

With the lack of internet over the weekend I nearly missed this post. Thankfully WVHooligan writer Geoff Reid did not miss out on it. He sent me this post over from CenterLineSoccer about the possible roof that could be on the new San Jose Stadium.

Here is what Jay Hibbs has to say about the roof.

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Well, that was hard to watch. After taking an early lead off a Christian Gomez brace, United let in a goal by the Earthquakes' Ryan Johnson in the 36 minute, while a handball in the box in the 62nd evened up the score. Rodney Wallace picked up a yellow card, meaning he will be suspended next game (8/1 vs.

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This match exhibited nothing but a lowly underperforming team working harder than a much more talented team. DC came out to a quick 2-0 lead, and apparently they thought they didn't need to do anything else for the next 70 minutes. That wasn't true.
There was also some definite bad luck for San Jose. Click to continue reading...

After failing to win in Colorado for the ninth year in a row, DC now heads to San Jose where they haven't won in eleven years. Now, DC got revenge on Colorado in RFK last time out and the Earthquakes are battling NY as the worst team in the league, so DC has about as good a shot as they are ever going to get to collect all the points. Click to continue reading...

[08:29] JSpitzberg: i have NO interest in MLS anymore

That's how I started my converstation with Neal this morning. And I really don't. With the Premier League gearing up it's hard to keep the enthusiasm for what I call my methadone, which I use to bridge the gap between English seasons. Click to continue reading...

General Manager Dave Kasper informed us this morning that Danny Szetela's International Transfer Certificate has arrived at the League offices from Italy. The club's newest signing will be available for selection this Saturday when United travels to San Jose to face the Earthquakes. Tune-in to Fox Soccer Channel 10:30 p.

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There was an expectant buzz in Jakarta this morning as we looked forward to a long weekend. A long weekend culminating in Manchester United playing a one off friendly against an Indonesian All Star XI on Monday at the Bung Karno Stadium.
Local sports tabloids filled their columns excitedly with every snippet about Manchester United's visit they could find. Click to continue reading...