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The U.S. men's national team had plenty of bright spots and highlights in 2009, but the final game of the year had few moments worth remembering.

With most of the team's top stars unavailable, Bob Bradley handed opportunities to several players to show that they deserve more playing time.

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I don't care about friendlies. Whether we win, lose, play new players, old players, no players... It doesn't work for me. Too much factors in play to seriously come to conclusions... How motivated were the players? What were the special tasks the coach gave them? How motivated was the opponent? The Click to continue reading...

From the Galaxy press release:

"As part of the tour, the Galaxy were scheduled to face FC Kaiserslautern on Thursday, November 26, and a second opponent on Tuesday, December 1 in Germany .

"We are very disappointed to announce the cancellation of our 2009 Postseason Tour due to a lack of communication and performance by the tour's organizer and promoter IMC Group, Inc," said President of Business Operations Tom Payne.

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Or at least the club's logo does 550 feet above the city of Seattle to mark Sunday's MLS Cup, along with those of the league and opponent Real Salt Lake.Photo courtesy Omega Graphics.

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Another day, another head shot. This really is the final straw for American girls soccer, though. I mean, the hair pulling and dirty tackles are one thing, but to take aim and obliterate an opponent's face like this on a free kick is just way over the line. And totally hilarious.

After the jump, a special bonus DTotD.

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By Clemente Lisi - NEW YORK, NY (Nov 17, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- The United States continues the European tour this week, playing Denmark on Wednesday in another test against a mid-tier team headed to next year's World Cup. The US will be looking to reverse Saturday's 1-0 loss to Slovakia. Denmark may actually be an easier opponent than Slovakia, even though they're six places higher in the FIFA Rankings. Click to continue reading...

There's a lot to be impressed with in this clip. Mostly in how #20 was able to nail his opponent square in the face at such a sharp angle and that said opponent quickly recovered to go after it.

The clip ends too soon, though. I have a feeling #20 didn't come out of that corner unscathed.

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Mike Wise Photography

For Akron, the rest of the season begins now. 20 wins from 20 matches have come and gone, and now five matches stand between them and ensure that a undefeated season has gone for naught. Teal Bunbury and the rest of the Zips head into the NCAA Tournament with a chance to finish what they've started, and will do so with the number one overall set.

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The Fort Lewis College men's soccer team defeated West Texas A&M 3-1 in front of a loud and lively crowd Sunday in the second round of the Divison II playoffs.

Fort Lewis advances with a 21-1-0 record; the Skyhawks find out the location and opponent of their next match today (Monday).

FLC opened the scoring the 24th minute, when the Buffs attempted to clear the ball but it bounced to the top of the box.

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The days of the great broad expressway to South Africa 2010 are decisively past: the struggle now has moved onto a narrow mountain pass. Every victory won today was as thin as it may be decisive. And it wasn't merely Europe – many held their breath across the world today. Few have cause to exhale yet.

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To defend against the breakaway, teams must be prepared to face an attacking opponent with fewer than optimal numbers. Sometimes, only the goalie is left in the sole line of defense against two or three opponents dashing towards the goal. Your team must practice defending with numbers down to better prepare for coming up against a breakaway. Click to continue reading...

Quick World Cup qualifier coverage update: If you're watching Ireland vs. France, we have options for partisans on either side, depending on whether you like your coverage with a Gallic accent or a Gaelic one. Our Ireland blog will be doing a liveblog right here (France fans welcome), and our France blog will be hosting an open thread, where you leave your thoughts in the comments.

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By Clemente Lisi - NEW YORK, NY (Nov 12, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- The United States National Team traveled to Bratislava this week to play World Cup-bound Slovakia on Saturday in a high-profile friendly meant to help Bob Bradley's squad build experience ahead of 2010. The game will also be the first test since the Confederations Cup in June that doesn't involve a CONCACAF opponent, giving Bradley a real taste of what the World Cup in. Click to continue reading...

FC Barcelona easily advanced to the fifth round of the Spanish Copa del Rey tournament last night with a 5-0 win over Cultural Leonesa. Bojan Krkic scored a brace for FCB while Pedro Rodriguez, Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandez added goals in a second-half outburst that saw the Catalan club beat its third-division opponent 7-0 overall. Click to continue reading...

So, a nice, relatively comfortable win on Monday brought us up from ninth to joint fifth.

We got the three points we so desperately needed, as well as a little bit of reassurance for the players and fans. Beating a team like Larissa with a score of 3-1 is always a nice thing. Sure, Larissa might not be at their best, but they are rarely an easy team to win against (I feel like I've said that many times already this season).

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Valencia netted a 3-1 victory over Zaragoza on Sunday in what could be called a watershed match for the club led by David Villa. Valencia now sits at 21 points and is a mere 5 behind 1st place Barca. Now that the Top 4 teams are within 5 points of one another we can really see a race developing at the top of the Table for the Premier Division.

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Q. What exactly happened here?

A. Darren Fletcher won the ball and Ashley Cole jumped up into the air. Martin Atkinson promptly scurried across and awarded Chelsea the 'foul'. The rest, as they say, is the rest of this post.

Q. Was Sir Alex wrong in criticizing the referee?

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Major League Soccer's decision to conduct its semifinal playoff rounds at the same time as this international break has severally hamstrung Bob Bradley's selection. With two very interesting friendlies against European sides that have already qualified for next summer's World Cup, these matchups would have provided an opportunity to test some of the best we have to offer.

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The morning after a team gets knocked out of the playoffs there's always a good deal of finger pointing, blame seeking and what-iffing.
As dutiful, diligent, longtime fans of the Beautiful Game, we all know perfectly well that blaming a loss on any one play or one call is simply unfair.
What about this or that pass or this or that shot or this or that run that someone did or didn't make? Click to continue reading...

ESPN ran a story about a recent match between BYU and New Mexico's women's teams which has become infamous for the elbows-to-the-ribs and ponytail-yank antics of New Mexico player Elizabeth Lambert. Fans of the sport are groaning, because this is what it takes to get a non-Olympics/World Cup/WPS Final into headlines - replays of bitchslap. Click to continue reading...

Big brawler looks like famous headbutter Nicolay Valuev is the 7ft 2in opponent of British heavyweight boxer David Haye this weekend. He also looks like a bloated Zinedine Zidane.

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Apple Valley is the Boys 2A Minnesota State High School Soccer Champion winning 4-0 tonight over Wayzata who had previously gone 9 games without a loss.

Apple Valley was threatening from the get-go of this contest with the Eagles getting 11 shots off in the first half but only forcing 3 saves from Wayzata goalkeeper Grant Larson.

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At least Barca drew with Rubin Kazan this time, but in no way did they impress. Something about Champion's League play has the boys from the shore playing snake-bitten...and I think I know what it is.

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Take a look at the crew from Barcelona and answer me one question. Even though they are the reigning European Champions (and have a huge bullseye on their backs) do you think they kind of expect to be in the Final 16?

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We all know about 34 year old David Beckham, a cracking set piece taker and he has a phenomenal range of passing but he was never the quickest or the most skilful of players. Due to his ability to whip in a dangerous ball from anywhere on the pitch he has never had to change his game, but during the first leg of LA Galaxy's play off against Chivas, Becks showed us a few new tricks.

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Welcome to November. A week of domestic competition is behind us. This week clubs go back to work in the Champions- and Europa Leagues (as well as the Copa Sudamericana but those clubs do not figure in the Top 25 at this point). Here's where they stand ahead of a crucial week in those competitions:
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Thanks to Jack McInerney's second goal of the tournament and a second consecutive shutout, the U.S. Under-17 National Team has topped the UAE 1-0 to finish second in group play.Provided Italy gain at least in draw in their ongoing match with Uruguay, they will be the Americans' World Cup round of 16 opponent. Click to continue reading...

As mentioned before, I'm skipping the high school season; in this case because I've got other regularly occuring activies that happen the same days as high school games - and frankly sometimes I just need a year away (see many many rants about high school soccer). But I am working games at the same sport-centered school I've been fortunate enough to work for the last two winters. Click to continue reading...

There are many components to good team defense as well as to individual defensive skills. As soon as the opponent gains possession of the ball, the team is on defense, and the defenders must be especially aware and prepared as an offensive attack approaches their own goal. After a transition (one team switching to offense while another switches to defense) the first responsibility of the defense is to get between the ball and the goal. Click to continue reading...

By the time the final whistle blew today I was wondering when United were going to get started. That's the measure of Champions isn't it, being able to win when still in first gear? Well that's all fine and well but with Chelsea and Arsenal building up their goal differences each week, we could do with battering the teams we totally outplay.

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What goes around comes around eh? Less than a week after hauling Michael Owen down as the last man, Jamie Carragher got his just desserts. In the first half, Carragher fell in to Zamora in the penalty area but the referee let him off the hook again. It was a case of three strikes and your out for Carragher though, with the Liverpool defender finally handed a straight red card for rugby tackling his opponent.

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It was a 54th minute Alex Shinsky that the keeper should have done better on that won the day for the U.S. Under-17's.The World Cup group win moved our boys level on points with second place UAE, their closing day opponent. Here are the highlights.- Greg Seltzer Click to continue reading...

Mike Wise Photography

Easy schedule or not, there's no stopping the Akron Zips. While their conference schedule in Mid-American play is regarded as fairly light, Wednesday's match against Penn State was a chance at answering those critics, as the Nittany Lions came in ranked 16th in this week's RPI.

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Mike Wise Photography

Easy schedule or not, there's no stopping the Akron Zips. While their conference schedule in Mid-American play is regarded as fairly light, Wednesday's match against Penn State was a chance at answering those critics, as the Nittany Lions came in ranked 16th in this week's RPI.

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For the second game in a row, Honduras held their own at the U-17 World Championships in Nigeria. Unfortunately, for the second time in a row they lost, this time to the host team by the minimum. The match told the tale of a Honduran side that were organized in the back but couldn't generate sustained possession in their opponent's half. Click to continue reading...

Maybe the Bayern Munich U-17s *would* start in MLS since Toronto apparently got beat by a teenage girls side on the weekend. From Monday's Du Nord:

. . . a "correspondent" on from Toronto who was all but bragging about how his team TFC would make the playoffs because their opponent in the final round was a "Kansas City U14 Girls team".

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