Over the next five days more than 25 of the nation's best girls youth teams will play over 40 games in the 2008 Women's Nike Friendlies at Home Depot Center.

Teams will participate in the Under-15, Under-16 and Under-17 age categories, although the Under-14 Girls' National Team will participate in the Under-16 age group, and the U.

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As you guys know well by now, the Galaxy are coming to town September 13. That day, we are also helping put on an indoor soccer reunion game pitting former Kansas City players against former St. Louis Players. Check out the info below, and tell all your former indoor soccer junkies that watched the Comets and Attack in their heyday. Click to continue reading...

*While I've been columnizing much of the day, plenty of other stuff is going on in the soccer world with one highlight being former Galaxy defender Chris Albright slamming departed Galaxy Coach Ruud Gullit at SI.com:

"My thought was that he'd be gone by midway through this year - I thought that two days after meeting him," said the 29-year-old defender, who was part of the Galaxy squad that made preseason trips to Australia and New Zealand.

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Neosho is holding an alumni Game prior to the Black and Gold Scrimmage on August 28. Here is the write up from the Neosho paper

"All former Neosho Wildcat soccer players are invited to play in the Alumni match on Aug. 28 at 6 pm at Lions field. The match will precede this years Black and Gold Scrimmage.

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Neosho is holding an alumni Game prior to the Black and Gold Scrimmage on August 28. Here is the write up from the Neosho paper

"All former Neosho Wildcat soccer players are invited to play in the Alumni match on Aug. 28 at 6 pm at Lions field. The match will precede this years Black and Gold Scrimmage.

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Before there was David Beckham in the US, there was Cobi Jones, the real deal. He was a lethal combination of talent, charisma, and oomph.

And before MLS decided to anoint Beckham as the saviour of the sport in this country, Jones was already doing more to bring soccer to everyone.

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Arsenal came back in the second half with Gallas and Adebayor's goal. They were missing Cesc and it showed in most part of the game. Denilson and Aaron Ramsey started and their game picked up in the second half. But it was the veterans who pulled out the win. RVP's swerving free kick which Gallas was able to put his body on and steer the ball into goal and a Theo Walcott (yes, he can be considered a veteran in this Arsenal team) pass to Adebayour to slot the ball home.

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Looking back at the difficulties with set pieces that the Nigerians had, one has to ask where was the US team's wing play.

With Brian McBride and Jozy Altidore, the aerial advantage should have clearly been exploited with crosses from the flanks. Indeed, the good chances came through the air.

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Michael Orozco's elbow to Solomon Okoronkwo's chest as the two grappled was picked up by the German referee who gave Orozco marching orders. The US were reduced to ten men in the 4th minute.

It was an ill advised foul which happened right in front of the referee and he was forced into taking the more harsh option.

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Man Utd is on the verge of landing the Bulgarian. They have eyed him for a over a year. He was their first choice after the end of the 2007 season with his stellar first year at Spurs. They had to settle for Carlos Tevez.

Berbatov was ready to move to a club that guaranteed CL action.

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Jozy Altidore meets the Nigerians

A big day in US soccer as the men's national team take on the Nigerians, the 1996 Olympic winners. A win or a draw should see them through the quarterfinals. They had a golden opportunity to seal the deal against the Netherlands but were undone by a 93rd minute equalizer by Gerald Sibon.

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Wenger has made signing a central midfielder to complement Cesc Fabregas a priority. With Flamini's departure, the team has a huge void to fill. His successful partnership with Fabregas in midfield was the salient feature of Arsenal's matchplay.

There have been numerous links to Gareth Barry and Xabi Alonso, both who in my mind lack the speed and industry of a Flamini.

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This was not too long ago.

"Alexi Lalas believes David Beckham's legacy can be greater than Pele's for football in the United States."

Exciting times lay ahead. The crowds would come. The MLS could begin to write its epitaph as a retirement league. The LA Galaxy would be on level terms with the European super clubs.

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Brandi Chastain: "We have to remember. New Zealand is a small island in the middle of the ocean, so they don't get a lot of games."

If only the Ferns moved to a bigger country, everything would be alright. If only Barack Obama as per Cokie Roberts had vacationed at Myrtle Beach instead of an exotic place like Hawaii, he would be considered American.

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If your a Toronto FC supporter you cant help but feel you witnessed a seminole moment in the evolution of your clubs growth. Today on the road down five starters down and a mile high you saw a side that has until today found a way to loose despite great opportunities at victory.But today Toronto held on a mile high against a ten man Colorado that played the final 12 minutes short a man. Click to continue reading...

Nice jersey!-Myanmar
Originally uploaded by kinginexile Esta es una de mis fotos favoritas y queda como anillo al dedo por las protestas tibetanas en contra de los Juegos Olimpicos.

Nice jersey!-Myanmar
Nyaungshwey, the resort city near Inle Lake, can boast soccer players dressed in full garb, on top of its famous leg rowing fishermen, as attraction! Click to continue reading...

Soccer players and coaches always give the best material to the media. I love it.

Here's what Holland coach Foppe de Haan (right) said about his team's next opponent, the USA:

The Americans are more of a team on the same level. They don't have anybody extremely good.

I'm not going to argue with him. Click to continue reading...

I just saw Hope Solo and Lisa Chalupny, in a tentative moment, make the first big mistake as both were unable to thwart Leni Larsen Kaurin's header in the opening minutes.

A few minutes later, veteran Kate Markgraf could only look on as her under pressure backpass found a hustling Melissa Wiik latch onto the astray pass and lash the ball past a hapless Solo into the right hand corner of the net.

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Sir Alex Ferguson on November 7, 2007 arguing for quotas on foreign players.

"For the good of the game in England, it would be good to see more home-based players at the top clubs," Ferguson said. "There would be opposition from clubs like Liverpool and Arsenal, but I think if you asked a neutral, they would rather see more home-based players.

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Lionel Messi scored for his country in their opening Olympic men's football match in a narrow 2-1 win over the Ivory Coast on Thursday.Scoring for your country has to beat scoring for your club.Messi also helped setting up the second goal.He was adamant about wanting to be part of the Olympics and Barcelona,despite winning an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport giving the club the right to stop him playing,lifted their ban at the 11th hour.

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A couple weeks ago I got a somewhat angry email from an American college soccer player asking why he wasn't on my list. I did my best to be diplomatic explaining that monitoring over 1,000 college soccer players takes time and you need to accomplish something like playing at the adidas ESP camp, winning a player of the month award, a All-American honor, etc. Click to continue reading...

Cristiano Ronaldo is more likely to go to Real Madrid now because Wesley Sneijder took a bad knock on his knee [ out for six months].This is the latest twist in the saga.....
Sneijder injury vs Arsenal
Uploaded by fwoman

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In political parlance he is a flip flopper. The fans at the Emirates let him have it when he showed up to play Juve. The only thing that can get Ade back in favour would be to keep a low profile and repeat a 30 goal scoring season. In the end if that leads to meaningful silverware, then all can and will be forgiven.

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Everton opened itself up further to sale speculation contingent on government approval of its new 50,000 seat stadium. There appears to be plenty of bickering in Everton's top brass over the future of the club but it appears that they will be open to a takeover. In consideration for a takeover, Indian steel magnate, Lakshmi Mittal, the 4th richest person in the world and a 20% shareholder of QPR.

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65 soccer players. 10 days. 1 goal- to get signed by a professional soccer team. Is this the newest Italian reality show? No, it is not. This scenario is actually real, and it's going on at the famed Coverciano training complex in Florence right now. Every summer players without a club go to Coverciano for a training camp where they hope to impress various scouts of Serie A, B, and Lega Pro (C1 and C2) teams so that they have a job for the coming season.

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