Since the players aren't here yet, may as well eat at Dick's

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SEATTLE – Since it's mostly going to be an MLS Cup-centric week (after today's World Cup qualifiers, which Richard Farley told you about in the previous post), we may as well get the Pacific Northwest party started.

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Six teams qualified for next year's World Cup in South Africa today, finalizing the field that will compete in the first World Cup in African soil.

France, Slovenia, Uruguay, Portugal, Greece and Algeria advanced to the finals ending the dreams of Ireland, Russia, Costa Rica, Ukraine and Egypt in the process.

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I want to apologize to everyone for being down the last couple of days. Quite frankly the blog has been running poorly since last Thursday. I spent hour and hours trying to figure it out to no avail. A very big thanks to Superrookies� friend Jeff Austin for spending his whole evening working to get IMS back up and running.

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I want to apologize to everyone for being down the last couple of days. Quite frankly the blog has been running poorly since last Thursday. I spent hours and hours trying to figure it out to no avail. A very big thanks to Superrookies� friend Jeff Austin for spending his whole evening working to get IMS back up and running.

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Former Galaxy player and goal hero Ned Grabavoy, left, and Real Salt Lake, which beat the Chicago Fire on penalty kicks to become Eastern Conference champions (let's get rid of these silly conferences based on irrelevant geography, MLS) will face the Galaxy Sunday in Seattle.

Grabavoy scored the winning goal just before the picture was taken above, although former Galaxy striker Robbie Findley almost scored in the dying moments of regulation time only to be denied by Palos Verdes Peninsula product John Thorrington.

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Hank Alexandre and Sean Donahue are joined by New England Soccer News' Brian O'Connell to discuss the Revs early play-off exit and the end of the 2009 season.
The show is available now on our iTunes' feed as well as the Midnight Ride's feed.
Click here to listen to the podcast. Click to continue reading...

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Hannover 96 and German national team goalkeeper Robert Enke has died of an apparent suicide after being hit by a train.

A recent member of the German national team, Enke had reportedly struggled to cope with the death of his two-year old daughter, who died from a heart ailment in 2006.

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Last night I attended Alex Kotler's Football Partnerships panel, "Tweet: Blowing the Whistle on Social Media." Greg Lalas, Chris Schlosser, Chris Toy and myself were the panelists, and there were some seriously smart people in the room, all with incredible perspectives. It was humbling and insightful to be included among this group to discuss and share information on how we are each using social media to achieve our business objectives.

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There is a great community of soccer bloggers out there delivering soccer news and original content and one blog that is really doing it right is No Short Corners.

Greg Seltzer and Sean O'Connor run the blog and their resume in soccer journalism is very impressive.� Combined, the two have reported on soccer across the globe for over a decade, covering MLS, U.

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Today is the 1 year anniversary of Inside Minnesota Soccer.

A year ago I was scrambling to get the site up and running before the Minnesota State High Schools soccer tournament. I think my vision of what I wanted IMS to be has changed slightly but overall the mission is the same.

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Today is the 1 year anniversary of Inside Minnesota Soccer.

A year ago I was scrambling to get the site up and running before the Minnesota State High Schools soccer tournament. I think my vision of what I wanted IMS to be has changed slightly but overall the mission is the same.

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SMU Freshman hits 95-yard Soccer Goal @ Yahoo! Video
I live in America where soccer is still a second-string sport, but even the most controversial but popular American sports blogs can't ignore this fluke goal from a college soccer player at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX. Click to continue reading...

STARTERS
As we approach the final round of the regular season in MLS 7 teams are fighting for the remaining 3 playoff spots. Columbus, Houston, Los Angeles, Chivas USA & Seattle are all in, while only New York, San Jose & Kansas City are out. The list of scenarios for the seven teams still battling is endless. Click to continue reading...

If you want soccer news.

Protesters angry that two schools were displaced for a new stadium — and that a new school they were promised in return has not appeared — have blockaded the stadium construction site, forcing work to stop.

Yeah, it's a World Cup stadium. Click to continue reading...

Buncha crazy stuff. Frankie Hejduk has been added to the USMNT roster for the upcoming qualifiers, replacing the injured Clint Dempsey.
Speaking of the national team, Charlie Davies thinks the U.S. can win the World Cup -- that would be the day.
In some slightly surprising Major League Soccer news, Baltimore's mayor Sheila Dixon has asked the Maryland Stadium Authority about potentially building D. Click to continue reading...

At least, that's what Wendy Parker would have you believe. Besides her article on Pitch Invasion, she's slagged me off on her twitter account, soccer news aggregator site, and even her Atlanta Soccer News site. The basic premise is the same, but it seems Wendy got increasingly worked up as she plotted, wrote, and then basked in the afterglow of the article that was largely written in response to me. Click to continue reading...

U.S. professional soccer at the crossroads (again) By ASN Staff (http://american-soccer-news.com/?author=61) • Sep 2nd, 2009 • Category: Op-Ed (http://american-soccer-news.com/?cat=8) First came talk... Click to continue reading...

Newsworthy items have been sparse as the Dynamo take a brief but well-deserved hiatus. There was a nice announcement that Houston's Reliant Stadium will host the 2010 MLS All Star game. This marks the official start to the rumors of which European powerhouse will grace us with their royal presence.

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As Landon Donovan's national team career ticks on, previous records continue to fall. With the all-time goal scoring title firmly his, a cap on Saturday night will give him the overall lead in World Cup qualifiers with 32.

At the moment Donovan is currently tied with Kasey Keller, Eddie Pope, and Claudio Reyna at 31 qualifying appearances and barring unforeseen circumstances will make the record his own on Saturday night in Sandy, Utah.

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Week 3 of the Barclays Premier League has just concluded. And what a week it has been, full of events, talking points and incidents. We have had pitch invasions, stabbings, world class diving and finally the all-conquering Barcelona capturing another trophy, this time the UEFA Super Cup.
So, it was good to get back to the mundaneness of Week 3 in the Barclays Premier League. Click to continue reading...

Kirstina Kiss has announced today that she will be retiring from the Canadian Women's National Soccer Team today. Kiss began her soccer career in Ottawa, Ontario after being a star player at the Holy Trinity High School. She was the team captain for Canada and helped her team win silver at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo and bronze in 2007 at the Pan American games in Rio de Janairo.

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Fox� has revealed the TV schedule for its playoff round of Champions League matches it'll be on showing live on its Fox Soccer Channel network as well as its sister networks such as FSN and Fox Sports en Espanol.

The schedule is listed below. But in other important and related news, Fox Soccer Channel has pushed back the timeline of its HD coverage from this fall to February 2010, for the round of 16.

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Montreal Impact lost to Argentina's River Plate 2-1 last night in over-time. River Plate remained undefeated on their Canadian tour. They played the Toronto FC and a game against an English clud in Edmonton so far.

It may have been raining hard in Montreal yesterday but attendance was high to near capacity at the Saputo Stadium.

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Midweek seems an apt time to touch on a few things I've overlooked:

*The Sounders play Barcelona at 7:30 tonight in Seattle on ESPN2. It will be interesting to see who that usually delirious crowd will predominantly be rooting for - the home team or the European champions. More here.

Here's Barcelona's Lionel Messi doing a little ball juggling atop the 605-foot-high Space needle ahead of the game.

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Well it was bound to happen - and it seems like it is going to happen. The UEFA is finally concerned that players are getting paid too much money. With players getting some of the highest paid sports contracts in the world only clubs with deep pockets are able to compete.

UEFA President Michel Platini voices concern over player pay inflation.

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It's normal that if you posses something valuable you insure it, right? Well in some soccer news today Real Madrid announced that they have insured their new star player Cristiano Ronaldo's legs, for an estimated $144 million.

Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo get's $144 million leg insurance policy

Claiming to have insured his legs for that amount could seem excessive.

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With just a few weeks to go before all the passion restarts in Europe and the MLS nearing its conclusion i wanted to share a fantastic site with you.Its mysoccerplace.net.Mysoccerplace.net collects footballs highlights from the days current and past to keep fans informed and in tune with the day's occurrence from around the footballing globe. Click to continue reading...

Nice little vid about what is going on around the league off the field.

JM

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video via American Soccer News

This guy had a great tournament.� He's got a very bright future, full of confidence, and there is a lot of talk he has a good shot of making the World Cup team for South Africa 2010.

What do you think?� Did he play well enough to do that?

JM

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Thanks to American Soccer News for this one.

JM

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The Star Tribune's David La Vaque wrote an extensive article that was published today concerning the financial troubles of the Minnesota Thunder.� As editor and writer of Inside Minnesota Soccer I feel compelled to give you some insight into the article and make some personal comments about the Thunder's current situation.

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The Star Tribune's David La Vaque wrote an extensive article that was published today concerning the financial troubles of the Minnesota Thunder.� As editor and writer of Inside Minnesota Soccer I feel compelled to give you some insight into the article and make some personal comments about the Thunder's current situation.

Click to continue reading...

By Stephen Coutts – Valued Guest Writer for The Flat Back Four
KENT League side Beckenham Town have made an audacious bid to coax evergreen striker Teddy Sheringham out of retirement.
Teddy Sheringham achieving greatness at the 1999 Champions League final - Image from Reuters
The ex-Manchester United, Spurs and Millwall striker finished his career at Colchester last summer and is said to be wanted for Town's 2009-10 Carlsberg FA Vase campaign. Click to continue reading...

By Stephen Coutts – Valued Guest Writer for The Flat Back Four
KENT League side Beckenham Town have made an audacious bid to coax evergreen striker Teddy Sheringham out of retirement.
Teddy Sheringham achieving greatness at the 1999 Champions League final - Image from Reuters
The ex-Manchester United, Spurs and Millwall striker finished his career at Colchester last summer and is said to be wanted for Town's 2009-10 Carlsberg FA Vase campaign. Click to continue reading...

Big news in American Soccer news today. Oguchi Onyewu signed a three year deal with European powerhouse AC Milan today, and Fifa handed out a 3+1 match ban for Micheal Bradley after an altercation between the ref and himself after he was sent off during the Spain v. USMNT match in the Confederations Cup. Click to continue reading...