Stories in the Brazilian press at the start of the week had Corinthians, one of the country's biggest clubs and the current employers of Ronaldo, planning to sign Juan Román Riquelme from Boca Juniors in a bid to boost their Copa Libertadores campaign in 2010, their centenary year. I've written about it for Soccernet, and [. Click to continue reading...

A little something flaring up at Toyota Park

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If you need any more evidence of why continued stadium development is the most important element in professional soccer's domestic development, go watch Saturday's match from Chicago.

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Phil Brown's days at Hull City figured to be numbered given the team's awful start, but now reports are surfacing that he has already left the club.

Soccernet is reporting that Hull has left, while the Daily Mail is reporting that Brown is on the verge of being given the boot.

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Phil Brown's days at Hull City figured to be numbered given the team's awful start, but now reports are surfacing that he has already left the club.

Soccernet is reporting that Brown has left Hull, while the Daily Mail is reporting that Brown is on the verge of being given the boot.

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MLS PLAYOFFS
Who you pickin' to win in this round?
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Steve Davis at Soccernet gives us an initial preview of the teams who made the playoffs.
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Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated is pretty fired up about the LA-Chivas series!
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First Round playoff matches, home and away series:
1st Leg
WESTERN CONFERENCE
-Thu Oct 29
Seattle Sounder FC (3) v Houston Dynamo (2) - 9pm central on ESPN2
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
-Sun Nov 1
Chivas USA (4) v Los Angeles Galaxy (1) - 4pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
EASTERN CONFERENCE
-Sat Oct 31
Real Salt Lake (4) v Columbus Crew (1) - 5pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
-Sun Nov 1
New England Revolution (3) v Chicago Fire (2) - 12pm Central on FSC
Venue: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough MA
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2nd Leg
EASTERN CONCERENCE
-Thu Nov 5
Columbus Crew (1) v Real Salt Lake (4) - 7pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
-Sat Nov 7
Chicago Fire (2) v New England Revolution (3) - 7:30pm Central on FSC
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
WESTERN CONCERENCE
-Sun Nov 8
Houston Dynamo (2) v Seattle Sounder FC (3) - 2pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
-Sun Nov 8
Los Angeles Galaxy (1) v Chivas USA (4) - 6:30pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
MLS
Brian Strauss of Fanhouse comments on commissioner Don Garber's appearance last night on Fox Football Fone In. Click to continue reading...

***Spoiler Alert***
Man United scored a late one through Antonio Valencia to beat CSKA Moscow 1-0 in Russia. The rest of today's matches, including Kaka's return to AC Milan with Real Madrid are taking place right now. If you can find a TV, tune it to Fox Soccer Channel or the sports section on DirecTV. Click to continue reading...

Poring through the results of the closing stages of World Cup qualifying this past week, I'm almost agog at this cauldron of footballing fury, the extreme highs and crushing lows in the fight for the last few places destined for South Africa. And we haven't even reached Sepp Blatter's Official David and Goliath Playoff Round© yet. Click to continue reading...

In fiddling with the syncing abilities of NetNewsWire, I started looking at Google Reader's recommendations and noted that it provided a bit of data on how many people follow certain blogs.
So, being the pedantic nerd I am, I decided to check out the numbers for some of my "favorite" blogs. Click to continue reading...

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...

STARTERS
Awesome Awesome Awesome Golazo!
This is one of the greatest goals I have ever seen!
A header goal from 40 yards out! Martin Palermo of Boca Juniors with the near impossible. Thanks to Robert for this one!
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The USA U20 is out of the World Cup. Click to continue reading...

Why won't you score?!

Okay, so we are pretty settled into the 2009-2010 season and I am, yet again, having major issues with my fantasy team. What's going on? How can I have 14 points in one weekend? How can Michael Turner do so well for Hull and not for Sunderland? How, in the name of all that is holy, can my captain, Frank Lampard, not have scored a single goal this season?

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Liverpool, Chelsea and United all won fairly uninspiring 1-0 games in the first round of the CL group stage. None of the teams were any great shakes. So let's compare the ledes in the BBC's and ESPN's match reports. I mean, they're probably similar, right?
BBC:
• Liverpool opened their Champions League campaign in unconvincing fashion with a narrow win over Hungarian champions Debrecen. Click to continue reading...

PFA chief Gordon Taylor has urged football fans, pundits, and the FA to put a stop to the lynch mob mentality that is surrounding Manchester City striker Emmanuel Adebayor. The targetman stirred up controversy over the weekend by first stamping on Robin van Persie's face before scoring a goal and sprinting the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the angry Gunners fans.

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While Major League Soccer is enjoying a slower week in terms of news and even games (yeah only three this weekend) due to the World Cup qualifying going on, the USL keeps rolling in the news.

I just caught wind of another release via SoccerNet that goes into more details about how some clubs could be splitting from the USL and it's new ownership after this year.

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Prevailing media will usually cling to its most profitable darlings. They supply what is demanded: the whats-what on Man United, the latest bickering between managers, polls about Ronaldo, anything to breed divide between Barcelona and Real Madrid, what Rafa said, arguing if Arsenal can win with youth, and occasionally even talking about Inter. Click to continue reading...

rampowned - n. What tends to happen to Marta in finals.
The official story.
Jacqueline Purdy at Soccernet.
Scott French giving the good news to the Jerseyites.
You know what, I should have posted this when I got home, rather than wait until after the FSC delay. Click to continue reading...

I've had a lazy weekend writing-wise, with the last weekend before hostilities in Argentina commence again giving one final chance for a bit of a break. All the same, I was busy at the end of last week writing for Soccernet on why the Argentine league will be kicking off later than scheduled this season, [. Click to continue reading...

BBC SPORT | Football | Premier League | Man Utd v Birmingham

Man Utd have defensive problems despite Wes Brown's recovery from a thigh problem, with Jonny Evans doubtful and Nemanja Vidic and Rafael ruled out.
Ben Foster (knee) or Tomasz Kuszczak will deputise for Edwin van der Sar, while Nani (shoulder) could feature after playing for Portugal in midweek.

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All the stuff being covered outside the unfriendly confines of the award winning Dirty Tackle...

HSV keeper Frank Rost saved the day with his face (1:40 into the video above), giving his side a first round win over Fortuna Duesseldorf in the DFB Pokal yesterday. Note the blood (and better replay) when he comes back out at the 3:00 mark.

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The SuperLiga final takes place Wednesday when Chicago hosts Tigres UANL at 7 p.m. CT on TelaFutura and SuperLiga2009.com. Kristian Dyer from ESPN Soccernet wrote a story about the merits of the tournament, including a good quote from our favorite #22 Davy Arnaud. Check out the story.
Click to continue reading...

I've enjoyed Justin Rodriguez' stories for Soccernet on the US youth system. His latest is a feature on Jack McInerney. For those of you who don't know/remember McInerney, he is the kid who seemingly came out of nowhere to score 5 goals and 3 assists in the U-17s' 3-game CONCACAF Championship campaign.

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In another moment of fine journalism for ESPN and Soccernet, they sent out Steve Davis to do player ratings for the MLS All Star Game.
That's right he did player ratings for an All Star game.
That's like trying to rate the attractiveness of women at Case Western University* - useless, pointless, and utterly futile. Click to continue reading...

The Revolution took 3 points from Chivas Sunday evening, starting an important 4 game homestand on a positive note. The team, which as struggled early in the season in the standings, has played good soccer, but failed to pick up wins in several close matches.

Sunday's 2-0 shut out win marked a departure from their past woes, as the Revolution dominated the second half showing impressive speed and precision from their front line.

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On Saturday July 4th 2009, Liverpool rekindled a link with a Kop Legend that will bridge the old regime with the new brigade. Soccernet has this to report last week,

Returning hero Kenny Dalglish has promised to make the most of his second chance with Liverpool. The Scot - branded 'King Kenny' by the Anfield faithful after winning eight league titles and three Europeans Cups with the Reds as a player and then manager - confirmed on Friday he has accepted a senior role in the club's academy and as a global ambassador for the Merseysiders.

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On Saturday July 4th 2009, Liverpool rekindled a link with a Kop Legend that will bridge the old regime with the new brigade. Soccernet has this to report last week,

Returning hero Kenny Dalglish has promised to make the most of his second chance with Liverpool. The Scot - branded 'King Kenny' by the Anfield faithful after winning eight league titles and three Europeans Cups with the Reds as a player and then manager - confirmed on Friday he has accepted a senior role in the club's academy and as a global ambassador for the Merseysiders.

Click to continue reading...

After six years with Soccernet I am moving on to pastures new. Given my impending departure and an unhealthy, nay, nerdy interest in the business of football now seems an opportune moment to assess the health of the UK game and see what, if anything, has changed in my time covering the game for ESPN. Click to continue reading...

Something to read while you watch Kaka arrive in Madrid... The real reason Americans don't like soccer... (East Coast Bias) ...and why it doesn't matter anyway (MouthPieceSports) Beginners guide to Croatian football (Dinamo Zagreb Offside) How Zlatan Ibrahimovic breaks Jante's Law (Soccernet) How Brazil got pragmatic (SoccerLens) Ronaldo's replacement arrives (Man Utd Offside) More bad news at Betis (La Liga Loca) RvN tops [. Click to continue reading...

The Confederations Cup Final, USA versus Brazil, is in a few hours. As always when the Americans play a big side, they'll be heavy underdogs, and they've already lost to Brazil 3-0 in the group phase.
The Guardian is in disarray, so Sid Lowe, rather than writing about Spain's exit from the cup, did a piece on Seve Ballesteros. Click to continue reading...

Opening comment from Soccernet's live gamecast:

"Hello and welcome to Spain's thrashing of the US. Teams to follow in a moment."

Eat it, world.

Click to continue reading...

STARTERS
Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle says that MLS order the Houston Dynamo media department to change credit on a goal last weekend from a Bobby Boswell Own Goal to a Fabian Espindola goal. If this is true it's totally bogus.
TEAM USA - CONFEDERATIONS CUP
See you on Wednesday afternoon at the Sweetwater to watch the Semifinal miracle game for the USA. Click to continue reading...

Other than for the games, I don't watch much ESPN. I don't listen to its radio stations either, or read its magazine. Yes, I read Bill Simmons and check out Soccernet, but don't own an Insider web account. If it ever came down to it, I probably could live without ESPN in my life. Still, let's throw out a number -- 90 percent -- maybe more, of American sports fans get their agenda set by the Click to continue reading...

Cristiano Ronaldo not only stands to make a world record salary from Real Madrid by the end of the month, but more importantly, he stands become the world-record 11,000th notch on Paris Hilton's bedpost by the end of the week!! Awesome. It's good to be CR7; I wonder whether he'll insist on full color for his sex tape, or whether he'll stand for night-vision goggle green? Click to continue reading...

I just wanted to throw something quick up about Real today before I left on a journey to the north east for a couple days. I read the lil interview that Cannavaro had w/ soccernet and I couldn't agree with him more. I don't think Real will succeed. Yes, they will be able to field the greatest offensive team in soccer in the coming year, but will they be a TEAM. Click to continue reading...

I just wanted to throw something quick up about Real today before I left on a journey to the north east for a couple days. I read the lil interview that Cannavaro had w/ soccernet and I couldn't agree with him more. I don't think Real will succeed. Yes, they will be able to field the greatest offensive team in soccer in the coming year, but will they be a TEAM. Click to continue reading...

Here's a sampling of today's (English language) media coverage of the match.
From San Jose, Costa Rica:
Steve Goff / Washington Post
- A game preview focusing on Saprissa Stadium
- The front page of Sports today
- Steve Goff's blog: Soccer Insider
Michael Lewis / bigapplesoccer. Click to continue reading...