Now that we have the official list of thd 32 nations taking part in next summers World Cup Finals, all eyes are on the draw December 4th and how teams will be seeded for that draw.

There will be eight groups of four teams, so FIFA needs to split the 32 countries into 4 categories. According to FIFA's regulations:

"The FIFA Organising Committee forms groups for the final competition by seeding and drawing lots whilst taking sports and geographic factors into consideration, as far as possible.

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SEE YOU IN SEATTLE
It's MLS Cup Weekend - So come and party with your friends on Friday night!
The Designated Players - du Nord, Soccer by Ives, The Original Winger, This Is American Soccer and The Offside Rules - will be hosting a get together on Friday night in Seattle at Kells Pub. Click to continue reading...

SEE YOU IN SEATTLE
MLS Cup Weekend - Party with your friends on Friday night!
The Designated Players - du Nord, Soccer by Ives, The Original Winger, This Is American Soccer and The Offside Rules - will be hosting a get together on Friday night in Seattle at Kells Pub. Click to continue reading...

QUICK PROGRAMMING NOTES: TIAS, Du Nord, The Original Winger, Soccer By Ives, and The Offside Rules will be hosting a party Friday night 9pm in downtown Seattle at Kell's Irish Pub (FYI - bar charges $5 cover, which is not going to us). It's a true soccer bar I'm told, should be a good time. Click to continue reading...

Word is Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill and Nigel Reo-Coker are back on good terms. That took a while.
A couple months ago the two had one of the biggest spats of the season, over the weekend the boss named the player captain.
Kumbaya.
Now the links:

• Fergie escapes FA punishment (v.

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Soccer by Ives is reporting that US U-20 and Miami FC's Gale Agbossoumonde is in serious negotiations with Sporting Braga to join the club on loan on Nov. 17, when he turns 18. At 6′2 and 185 pounds, Agbossoumonde is expected to join the club's youth team.

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Right now, the USMNT U-17s are taking on Malawi in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria. The game is being telecast live on ESPNU, ESPN360.com and Galavision. You can also follow along via the match tracker at ussoccer.com, the U.S. Soccer Twitter feed or at Ives Galarcep's running commentary. Let's see if the young USA team can bounce back from a 2-1 loss to Spain Monday. Click to continue reading...

Soccer by Ives is reporting that Luis Gil's move to Arsenal has not been completed. Gil has received interest from other European clubs and is looking to turn his trip to the U-17 World Cup into a new contract.

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CHICAGO (Oct. 19, 2009) U.S. Under-17 Men's National Team head coach Wilmer Cabrera has announced the final 21 players who will represent the United States in the 2009 FIFA Under-17 World Cup. A combination of 17 players born in 1992 and four born in 1993 have arrived in Nigeria in advance of the team's first match.

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The UEFA Champions League has kicked off with some crazy early scores as Barcelona and Inter Milan both fell behind in the opening moments. Ives is doing a running commentary at SBI, or you can watch the games yourself on Fox Soccer Channel (or their auxiliary channels on DirecTV). If neither of those works for you, check out the live scores at Soccernet. Click to continue reading...

Howdy folks. No, this isn't a mirage, but it's me. Tendering a quiet explanation as for my lengthy absence. I'm not really going to be posting here much do to time commitments and the need to be paid even a little bit for writing.

But since I got my first start here at the ol' Arsenal Offside, I wanted to drop by as I will be doing from time to time to do a bit of self-promotion and updates.

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News out of DC is that Charlie Davies had successful surgery and remains in the hospital. He has a long road to recovery ahead of him, and it sounds like he is lucky to be alive. We're just glad to hear that he's doing okay.

More details from Soccer by Ives:

Davies underwent five hours of surgery on Tuesday to repair the following: a lacerated bladder, fractures to the tibia and femur in his right leg, facial fractures and a left elbow fracture.

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America! F$#& yeah!

With all the scoring coming in the second half, we have clinched World Cup Qualifying with a decisive 3-2 victory over Honduras.

See the highlights on ussoccer.com.

Guess who played one of the best games of his life? Ohhhhhhhh Landon Donovan!

I was up late last night (Virginia time) following the match on Twitter, I've only had one ounce of my 30 ounces a day coffee habit, and I'm watching my girls float Pop Tart and Band Aid wrappers over the banister as "parachutes," but I couldn't wait to come here and share my excitement.

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Update: Reader Dr. Chuck Pearson left a comment pointing me to the missing game. The Crew lost 2-0 to Saprissa in the one and only edition of the CONCACAF Giants Cup in 2001.
Last night the Columbus Crew became the first MLS team to beat CD Saprissa in Costa Rica. Soccer By Ives is reporting that it's the first time in seven tries for an MLS club, but I can only find six games at Estadio Ricardo Saprissa:
9/16/09 Saprissa 0, Crew 1
10/9/08 Saprissa 2, DC United 2
3/12/08 Saprissa 3, Houston 0
3/8/06 Saprissa 3, LA Galaxy 2
3/16/05 Saprissa 2, KC Wizards 1
4/14/04 Saprissa 2, Chicago 0
I think SBI might be mistaken, but if anyone can find the missing result, post a comment. Click to continue reading...

We ran this post a while back, but since this topic has reared its head yet again with the upcoming US World Cup qualifiers, we thought we should post it one more time.

In a brief September 8th article, we brought up the debate on the difficulty of CONCACAF away Qualifiers, citing Ives Galarcep's "Hazards of road qualifiers" and Luis Bueno's "Debunking the myth.

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You can see Jimmy there toward the right.
Franco Panizo of Soccer by Ives checked in today with a report from the USA training camp in Miami. No mention of Jimmy, but he was there and took part of the full session. How would you like to be a goalkeeper for Barry University and get a chance to train with the Nats? Click to continue reading...

1) Shalrie Joseph for MVP? It seems like all the forces are converging and settling on him after his player of the week performance. Today alone, there were three articles touting his candidacy from Ives Galarcep (Soccer By Ives), Ridge Mahoney (Soccer America), and Kyle McCarthy (Goal.com).
He has a lot of things going for him. Click to continue reading...

The FIFA U-20 World Cup kicks off Thursday from Egypt, with the U.S. U-20 Men's National Team starting the competition Saturday in Suez. If you're intrigued by some of the best young players, you can watch all the games on one of ESPN's TV channels or ESPN360. Ives ran down the full list of games and TV airings yesterday, so you can jump over there to see the full slate. Click to continue reading...

It's an exciting day because the Champions League is getting ready to take off! When I was a player nothing beat rushing back from training, making my lunch as fast as I could, and then plopping on the coach in front of the TV with an ice cold Gatorade and enjoying some of the game's finest!

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Turns out this picture is soccer related somehow.
Not sure how.
Looks like a lot of work.
Oh well, the links:

• Roma coach to resign? [ESPN]
  
• Some MLS trade happened. [Soccer By Ives]
  
• Seedorf Q&A. [Goal! NY Times]
  
• Bone test to prove Nigerians age.

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Unlike the senior team, Coach Rongen is announcing his roster almost a month before the first match of the U-20 World Cup. Yup, kick off for the Americans in this youth World Cup is September 25th.
GOALKEEPERS - Sean Johnson (Central Florida), Josh Lambo, Brian Perk (UCLA)
DEFENDERS - Gale Agbossoumonde, Kyle Davies, Jorge Flores, Ike Opara (Wake Forest), Anthony Wallace, Sheanon Williams
MIDFIELDERS - Daniel Cruz, Mikkel Diskerud, Dilly Duka (Rutgers), Jared Jeffrey, Aaron Maund (Notre Dame), Brian Ownby (Virginia), Dillon Powers (Notre Dame), Michael Stephens (UCLA)
FORWARDS - Sam Garza (Denver), Peri Marosevic, Brek Shea, Tony Taylor (Jacksonville)
I've highlighted the college players in the above list. Click to continue reading...

Soccer by Ives has reported that former Scott Gallagher player Charles Renken has signed with German-side 1899 Hoffenheim

Two of the best players in the U.S. national team youth system will be taking their development to Europe.

ESPN.com's Justin Rodriguez is reporting that Charles Renken and Joseph Gyau will be joining the 1899 Hoffenheim youth academy.

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Soccer by Ives has reported that former Scott Gallagher player Charles Renken has signed with German-side 1899 Hoffenheim

Two of the best players in the U.S. national team youth system will be taking their development to Europe.

ESPN.com's Justin Rodriguez is reporting that Charles Renken and Joseph Gyau will be joining the 1899 Hoffenheim youth academy.

Click to continue reading...

Haven't had much to report regarding Major League Soccer recently, primarily due to the lack of positive results in Kansas City. Mama taught me that if you don't have something good to say, then shut up. Or something along those lines...

Regarding the Wizards, this is a pretty strong message from a major supporter, Down The Byline

Since scoring 3 goals in the first half against New England back on June 13th, the Wizards have scored 1 goal in the next 13 halves of soccer.

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Haven't had much to report regarding Major League Soccer recently, primarily due to the lack of positive results in Kansas City. Mama taught me that if you don't have something good to say, then shut up. Or something along those lines...

Regarding the Wizards, this is a pretty strong message from a major supporter, Down The Byline

Since scoring 3 goals in the first half against New England back on June 13th, the Wizards have scored 1 goal in the next 13 halves of soccer.

Click to continue reading...

Welcome to the latest installment of Your Questions Answered, with the third of a four-part series on July questions.

This batch of questions has a good number of MLS questions, as well as some Americans Abroad queries, with Freddy Adu and Eddie Johnson among the players people want to know about.

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Welcome to the latest installment of Your Questions Answered, with the third of a four-part series on July questions.

This batch of questions has a good number of MLS questions, as well as some Americans Abroad queries, with Freddy Adu and Eddie Johnson among the players people want to know about.

Click to continue reading...

As EPL Talk first reported (as far as I know) last week, and now confirmed by them, Soccer by Ives, and the ESPN main soccer page itself ... ESPN2 will be carrying the Premier League.
The schedule begins with tomorrow morning's Hull City-Chelsea match, which kicks off at 7:45 a.m. As EPL Talk said all along, ESPN2 will get those early-morning Saturday kickoffs, but the site still cannot confirm that the Monday 3 p. Click to continue reading...

Filling in for Bruce today is Chrös; I did the honors when Brucio was gone at the MLS Cup last fall as well. Let's not try to kid anyone and pretend that you are here for my thoughts. I've compiled some basic reading about the big game today, and I'll be back this afternoon with an MLS roundup as well. Click to continue reading...

A quick thanks to Michael and the spectacular job he does on this blog. Â He's been busy this past week, so you'll have to excuse the lack of posts. Â Moving and then traveling from your new home all within a four day span doesn't leave a lot of time to blog. Â Lucky for him it was a pretty slow week for USMNT news.

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Pies gives an illustrated and detailed look at the loving relationship between Chelsea stars John Terry and Frank Lampard.
So good.
Take a look.
Now the links:

• Adu back at Benfica, looking for answers. [Goal.com]
  
• Footballers and Sex and the City? [Kickette]
  
• Red Bulls waive Khano Smith.

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According to the Corriere di Livorno, Dynamo midfielder Ricardo Clark has signed with Livorno but won't join the team until the January transfer window. The link, first picked up by Soccer By Ives, is this one. Calls have been placed...

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So, the usual suspects are commenting on Facebook about yesterday's 5-0 loss to Mexico. There are plenty of theories and thoughts about what the result means in the bigger picture World Cup 2010.

Me I think Mexico was a very enjoyable team to watch with their passing and finishing and the result reminded me of why I didn't get very excited following the US win in the Confederation's Cup over Spain.

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So, the usual suspects are commenting on Facebook about yesterday's 5-0 loss to Mexico. There are plenty of theories and thoughts about what the result means in the bigger picture World Cup 2010.

Me I think Mexico was a very enjoyable team to watch with their passing and finishing and the result reminded me of why I didn't get very excited following the US win in the Confederation's Cup over Spain.

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Readers of this site know I don't typically post pieces on one particular youth prospect going abroad. But, Cody Arnoux is a player I have been tracking for a long time and it's refreshing to hear that he may be latching on with a big English club. Soccer by Ives broke the story earlier today that Arnoux whose excelled in both College Soccer and PDL is heading overseas.

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