To paraphrase Preki during his first TFC press conference - "he didn't blow smoke up anyone's... butt". Forgive Toronto supporters for smiling at that idea as we've been having our butts smoke blown (oh grow up) for three years plus. Most of that smoke has been blown by the other man at the press conference table today but in one of his main off-season duties, Mo Johnston succeeded. Click to continue reading...

The less said about this match, the better. It was painful to watch at moments. I think that this is one of those matches that we're supposed to learn from. So, what did we learn?

-Landon Donovan is even more integral to this team than we could have imagined. We knew he was the driving force, but the team looks completely lost without him.

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Expect a new look Fire in 2010. (Getty Images)

The 2009 season for the Chicago Fire was expected to be a big one. Talks of MLS Cup and Supporter's Shield were all the rage to begin the season. Early on this year it looked like the expectations were being met as the Fire lost a single game in the first three months of the season.

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Reporter Phil Collin follows up Thursday's initial news with a more detailed story in today's newspaper you can read here.

Preki, as usual playing his cards close to his chest, doesn't reveal a whole lot:

"I've been here four years and I think we have done a pretty decent job advancing Chivas to a certain level.

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I know this news came down yesterday but I just never got the time to talk about it until this morning. Funny how only a couple days before RSL's big conference final in Chicago the big news surrounding the club isn't an injury to a key player or anything like that but the pending sale of 49% of the team to a local businessman from current owner Dave Checketts.

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In football attacking players often get most of the praise when their team is achieving results while players in other positions are often overlooked. Defenders are typically ignored when accolades and awards are given out, yet it would be wrong to underestimate the contribution and influence� of key defensive players such as� Italy's Paolo Maldini or France's Lilian Thuram, just to name a couple of outstanding talents.

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Yesterday there were reports from the Denver Post and that the players and coaches got into a shouting math after practice last Thursday, with Conor Casey stomping off the practice field challenging Gary Smith to trade him and Pat Noonan leading the players in refusing extra "punishment" laps. Obviously this isn't what you want to see from a team that collapsed in the final quarter of the season. Click to continue reading...

AP Photo/Manu Fernandez

Pep Guardiola fielded a different looking lineup this evening at the Camp Nou against Cultural Leonesa in the second leg of the Copa del Rey. Barcelona was going into the match already up by two goals after routinely pushing aside Leonesa on their home pitch.

The starting front three of Pedro, Bojan and Jeffren put on display the teams younger talent.

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A busy show as Brian Zygo brings us a locker room report from Robertson Stadium after Houston's 1-0 win over Seattle in the MLS Playoffs.

Aaron Davidson, the President of Miami FC joins us to answer questions about today's press release from the TOA declaring the intent to form a new professional league in the US and Canada.

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In a move that probaly shows that the Wizards Front Office might know money but doesn't really know that much about soccer, KC has removed the title of "interim" from Peter Vermes and now he is officially..., wait for it..., wait for it... the new head coach of Your Kansas City Wizards.

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When their season on the line, the Fire needed a big-time performance from the back line in Saturday night's second leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the New England Revolution. And did the defense ever deliver, putting together a comprehensive performance to shut down (and shutout) the Revolution and pave the way for the Fire to get into the Eastern Conference Final.

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Finally, Chelsea found their "hand" and used it to great effect in their 1-0 win over Manchester United yesterday.� The match was a rough and tumble affair that featured very little in the way of scoring opportunities for either squad but did feature virtual girth of tension and upheaval at Stamford Bridge.

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Thiago Silva looks a little overwhelmed there, don't you think? ("So Pirlo, you want a hug too? Ok, let's widen the circle. Everybody make space") He scored twice in Milan's 2-1 win over Lazio yesterday, including an own goal for the visiting team!

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Andy Williams Seals the Deal for Real in Win

Andy Williams seals the deal for RSL with a late goal in Real's 4-2 aggregate win to advance in the 2009 MLS Playoffs and move on to the Eastern Conference Final. Last week after Real Salt Lake beat Columbus at home in Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, Jason Kreis said something interesting after the game. Click to continue reading...

took 3 unanswered goals to the Columbus Crew tonight and the Crew (the best team in the league all season) is out.� I only have one thing to say...MAN, did I pick the right team to adopt or what!?

There's something about this win for RSL that screams inflation and deflation.� On one hand RSL is on top of the world, probably thinking (as is best) that they can run the table and win the MLS Cup.

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Sorry for the short notice.

Here's the brief press release I got from the Galaxy just minutes ago:

Galaxy head coach and general manager Bruce Arena and midfielder David Beckham will go "Inside the Locker Room" with the Petros and Money Show on Fox Sports Radio on Wednesday evening.

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A bit of pure, uncut, straight playoff dopeness from Chivas USA. I love this clip: a superb mix of behind-the-scenes footage, highlights, press-conference and locker room quotes it's kind of the total package. I have two words for the guys in LALAland who put this together: more please. Click to continue reading...

Once again, Barcelona is exhibiting an intense lack of "hand" when they gave away a draw to Osasuna. � I think the picture says it all...

Now that you've a minute to look it over I'll get to the real problem here. � It's not that Osasuna drew Barca. � Technically, any team can beat or draw anybody on any given day (regardless of how bad they are.

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It's Halloween, and I'm scared.

Not of the hordes of ghosts and goblins floating around as I type this, but rather that the MLS season of my beloved Columbus Crew will come to an end on Thursday night.

Tonight, as they took on Real Salt Lake in the first leg of the home-and-home playoff series, The Massive looked anemic.

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BMO Field finally turned into a fortress in 2009. (Getty Images)

2009 was expected to the be year that Toronto FC turned the corner and really made a splash in Major League Soccer. The moves were made to get local star Dwayne De Rosario at the start of the season and things looked promising early on but midway through the first full month of action manager John Carver stepped down and if you ask me the club never really rebounded from that change.

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Real Madrid midfielder Esteban Granero has urged his side to "turn the page" ahead of their clash against Getafe. "We have to turn the page and think of Getafe. We are Real Madrid and we have the club's prestige to defend. We are going to give it everything against Getafe."
Reigning European and Spanish champions Barcelona have no such concerns, and they go to Osasuna with a three-point lead over second-placed Madrid with seven wins in eight games. Click to continue reading...

The MLS Playoffs opened up on Thursday night with a draw between Houston and Seattle.� Given that Houston win in almost from the beginning of the season and Seattle had to pull it together at the last minute to get in I'd say this leaves a great deal of promise for the playoffs.

On Saturday Columbus and Salt Lake square in their first Semi-Final match and if they go anything like Houston and Columbus this should be a doozy.

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Catalan paper Sport has recently featured secrets from inside Barca's dressing room, where Pep continually strives to instill team unity between the players and blend all their personalities and egos into harmony.
From the more withdrawn players like Abidal and Keita to pranksters Pique and Dani Alves, the players get along great and there's always a friendly atmosphere in the locker room. Click to continue reading...

So in the end, Alfio Basile's army weren't able to obtain a crucial away victory against Los Millionares (how dare you mistake them for Chamillionaire!) but at least they came away with a 1-1 draw. As expected, El Monumental had all the ingredients for an emotional game and things got heated when Ariel Ortega hit his arm on Boca's defender, Julio Caceres' neck.

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What a difference a year makes. At about this time last year, the Los Angeles Galaxy were pondering a third straight season without a playoff berth even though it boasted one of the best players in the world in midfielder David Beckham and the best American player in Landon Donovan, who scored 20 goal last season. Click to continue reading...

In another incredible performance the team extended their unbeaten record to 7 games made up of 5 wins and 2 ties.

What a game! We were tied 0-0 until the 73 minute and were awarded a penalty to go up 1-0. The opposition came back and tied the game up in the 83rd minute. We won the game in the 88th minute from a header from a deep free kick into the box.

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Since Flavio Briatore bought Queens Park Rangers, everyone knew that Formula One world will intervene with the destiny of this famous football club from London. Lately it seems that this connection might be crucial for popular Hoops' future. Actually, Briatore resigned to the post of Renault Formula One boss after the accusations of fixing last year's race for Singapore Grand Prix.

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I know this is the hot topic at the water cooler, but I have to talk about this.� Barcelona lost a Champion's League match to an undermatched Rubin Kazan squad.� Now, it appears that Daniel Alves (their top-flite defender) will be out for as many as 3 weeks with some kind of thigh injury.

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• Ok, she's not playing in the Brasileirao ... but Marta still led Santos to the first Female Copa Libertadores victory after a convincing 9-0 win over Universidad de Assunción yesterday. Need we say more?
• Flamengo stunned leaders Palmeiras with a neat 2-0 victory thanks to a double (again) from Dejan Petkovic.

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REUTERS/Heino Kalis

The FIFA virus reared its ugly head on FC Barcelona in today's match against Valencia, with 11 of their players returning from international duty.

Pep Guardiola was without the services of Zlatan Ibrahimovic today as he was on the bench but did not see his way into the match still recovering from injury.

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While Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas has� clearly� enjoyed his Spain side cruise to the World Cup 2010 finals with a perfect record (and no goals conceded at home), he has spoken to Arsenal.com to offer some backing to a couple of his teammates who won't be appearing in the showpiece event next summer.

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Not much to write about today. The Charity Cup went well from what I have read. I couldn't find a television broadcast (if there was one to be found) so I'm relying on the written word to keep me informed. You can read about it here.

Congratulations to USA on defeating Honduras and securing a spot in the World Cup, but I'm worried about Stuart Holden. Click to continue reading...

Antonio Cassano will not make the national side as long Marcello Lippi is in charge of Italy.I hope i am worng, at 27 this is Cassano's last hurrah.For Lippi past is prologue and Cassano's history precedes him and he is now forever defined as the crazy one who pulls underwear over his own head.My words not necessarily the medias. Click to continue reading...

Seattle beat Columbus, New England drew with Colorado, Dallas won and Chivas beat D.C.� Man, I LOVE being right.

The last time I talked about the playoff shuffle I said that Seattle could jump up to around Chicago and Colorado's level with some good wins...boy did I hit that one on the head!

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Roy Keane has been under siege after a slow start this season at Ipswich, but as
Matt Dickinson of the Times Online reports, a distanced manager has apparently separated himself from his locker room.
One of the most troubling stories about Roy Keane's management did not involve him screaming, shouting or karate-kicking the tactics board in the dressing room, as Dwight Yorke has described so vividly in his forthcoming autobiography. Click to continue reading...