ASN had the chance to speak with Chicago Fire technical director Frank Klopas to talk about some of the recent departures from the Fire as well as the realities of the soccer business.
Jeff Tobin reports from the Windy City.

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Nick Rimando saved three Chicago Fire penalty kicks to help Real Salt Lake win the Eastern Conference on a shootout after 120 minutes of soccer yielded no goals for either team. The victory puts RSL in its first-ever MLS Cup game where they will face the LA Galaxy, victors of a dramatic conference final of their own Friday, and completes a stunning late-season turnaround for the Salt Lake City side.

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A nifty second half goal by Cuauhtemoc Blanco gave the Chicago Fire the goal it needed to advance past the New England Revolution in a hard fought Eastern Conference semifinal at Toyota Park Saturday. With the victory Chicago advances to the Eastern Conference final for the second straight year where they will host Real Salt Lake next week. Click to continue reading...

Defender Connor Tobin has just wrapped up his first year of professional soccer but is unsure if he will be returning to Norwegian club Nybergsund-IL for a second season. Click to continue reading...

If you are a connoisseur of Twitter like me, then you've already stumbled upon the terms "twiggers" and "twitches" numerous times and you've undoubtedly already figured out what they really mean. So to pacify the Decency and Morals Subcommittee of World Cup Blog, I will be using those terms (well, actually only one of those terms) liberally during this post in order to avoid getting into twouble.

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A late own goal by Eduardo Lillingston was enough to give the Chicago Fire a 1-0 win over Chivas USA at Toyota Park Thursday night. The defense held strong for the entire match and allowed Jon Busch to have an easy night. Chicago qualifies for the 2009 postseason with the win.
Jeff Tobin reports from Chicago, supplying a match report and Fire player ratings. Click to continue reading...

Interesting trivia question there "Who were the first Liverpool FC players to play for England?". It is of course a trick question because 4 players of Liverpool Football Club (as in Rugby Football) took part in the very first rugby international in 1871.

Step forward J.

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Jay Needham and Alta's dreams of promotion all but ended Sunday afternoon with a defeat at Tromsdalen while Connor Tobin did not see time in Nybergsund's victory over Stavanger. Click to continue reading...

The 1. Division gets top billing this weekend in Norway with Jay Needham and Alta in action at Tromsdalen while Connor Tobin hopes to see some minutes for Nybergsund versus Stavanger. Click to continue reading...

GOALKEEPERS (2): Nicole Barnhart (FC Gold Pride), Hope Solo (St. Louis Athletica) DEFENDERS (6): Brittany Bock (Los Angeles Sol), Rachel Buehler (FC Gold Pride), Lori Chalupny (St. Louis Athletica), Amy LePeilbet (Boston Breakers), Heather Mitts (Out of Contract), Cat Whitehill (Washington Freedom) MIDFIELDERS (8): Yael Averbuch (Sky Blue FC), Shannon Boxx (Los Angeles Sol), Tobin Heath (North Carolina), Angela Hucles (Boston Breakers), Lori Lindsey (Washington Freedom), Carli Lloyd (Out of Contract), Heather O'Reilly (Sky Blue. Click to continue reading...

The UT women (5-6-1) overcame Lynn University (6-5-0) on Sunday afternoon at Pepin Stadium in front of about sixty spectators. The 2-1 win gave the Spartans their first Sunshine State Conference win of the season.
The match saw the return of sophomore Kendall Bourdon to the Spartans' net. Click to continue reading...

When: Today, Noon
Where: Pepin Stadium
UT goes into today's game looking for its first Sunshine State Conference win after dropping their conference debut 3-2 against Nova on Friday night. The Spartans (4-6-1) have lost four of their last five matches and are facing a Lynn team that has won three of their last four, with all three wins being shutouts. Click to continue reading...

When: Tonight, 6pm
Where: NSU Soccer Complex, Fort Lauderdale
On Sunday, the Spartans got back into the win column with their first victory in four attempts against Georgia College. Tonight, UT (4-5-1) will try to parlay that bit of momentum into a winning streak against Nova (4-4-0). Click to continue reading...

The Spartans (4-5-1) ended a three game losing streak on Sunday with a 1-0 victory over Georgia College (5-4-1). The match was the fifth game of a tough six game road trip for UT. The Spartans won the first match, but then proceeded to loose three straight, before yesterday's win in Savannah.
Tampa out shot the Bobcats 17-7, but ultimately were only able to get one into the net. Click to continue reading...

The Chicago Fire and Columbus Crew battled for 90 minutes but it took just a split second decision by referee Mark Geiger to provide the Crew with the competitive advantage to draw 2-2 at Toyota Park. Coach Hamlett was visibly upset at the decision by Geiger citing not only the dubious PK call as the referee justified pointing to the spot because "Conde knicked him," but also a reckless tackle by Gino Padula in the first half. Click to continue reading...

The 2-1 scoreline on Sunday didn't indicate the dominant performance that was expected by Tampa in their victory over Warner University, but the Spartans did in fact control the match. UT (4-2-1) out shot Warner 24-4 and had fourteen corner kicks in the match as the host tried to keep the Spartans at bay. Click to continue reading...

Poor Chowan University. Coming into Sunday's match with UT, the Hawks (1-4-0) had been shut out their last two matches, outscored 8-0 in those matches, and suffered a 6-0 loss against Columbus State in their previous match.
The Spartans (1-2-1) showed no mercy.
With UT hungry for their first win, they pounced on the Hawks and dominated the run of play and almost ever statistic:
Tampa had eleven corner kicks. Click to continue reading...

Jay Needham and Alta got back on the winning track in the 1. Division promotion race while Connor Tobin spent most of Nybergsund's match watching from the bench. Click to continue reading...

The Spartan women have yet to taste victory this season after falling 3-2 to Tusculum College (2-1-0) on Friday. Sophomore goalkeeper Kendall Bourdon made five saves in the first half, but gave up three goals as well. Two of Tusculum's goals came in the first thirteen minutes of the game.
UT (0-2-1) fought their way back into the match with a seventeenth minute goal from Jazmin Perry, her team-leading second goal of the season. Click to continue reading...

Nybergsund's Connor Tobin says that despite his recent benching, he is still focused on doing what it takes to keep the club in Norway's 1. Division. Click to continue reading...

Troy Perkins and Valerenga try to stay alive in the Norwegian Cup while Connor Tobin and Nybergsund look to regain control of their season in 1. Division action. Click to continue reading...

Connor Tobin and Nybergsund suffered their fourth straight loss in Tuesday evening 1. Division action versus Kongsvinger at Gjemselund Stadion. Click to continue reading...

Tobin Heath has some skilz. Oh, she's got skills too, but within those skills are some serious skilz. In fact, as the kids say, she's "just plain sick" when it comes to dribbling. Despite her youth, Tobin is one of the USA's most skillful players and a dynamic, slashing dribbler who brings some truly unique qualities to the field. Click to continue reading...

The last few posts has been too Manchester United/Chelsea/Manchester City heavy so I've decided to patrol the entire World Wide Web for something different and yet relevant to this website. Found this photo of Tobin Heath on ONTD FOOTBALL. Different, yet relevant. She's a 21 years old college senior, plays for the North Carolina Women's [. Click to continue reading...

For those of you who don't subscribe to the US Women's National Team Blog, you should check it out as there are some entertaining posts this week.
Whereas the Fake Sigi blog is driven by pure evil and a thirst for the blood of the living, the USWNT blog is a collection of goofy photos and random behind the scenes video. Click to continue reading...

The U.S. team has arrived in Charleston, S.C. to prepare to face Canada on Wed., July 22 at Blackbaud Stadium. The match kicks off at 8 p.m. ET and will be televised live on FSC. It's a little bit "moist" in Charleston, especially as compared to the summer in upstate NY in Rochester, because as you know, it's not the heat that gets ya, it's the humidity. Click to continue reading...

Connor Tobin went the distance for Nybergsund in an losing effort while Mikkel Diskerud was unable to break Stabaek's deadlock with Oslo in the game's waning seconds. Click to continue reading...

Mikkel Diskerud and Stabaek will expect to pick up an important three points on the road while Connor Tobin and Nybergsund will try to work their way into the Adeccoligaen's top three. Click to continue reading...

A clinical finish by Brian McBride gave the Chicago Fire the only goal they would need to defeat San Luis in the opening game of the SuperLiga tournament Saturday night at Toyota Park. The win snaps a three-game losing streak for the Fire.
ASN's Jeff Tobin reports and providesplayer ratings for the winning Chicago side. Click to continue reading...

There is plenty of blame to go around after the U.S. Men's National Team's 3-0 loss to Brazil, much of it directed against Bob Bradley. Time for cooler heads to prevail. There is obviously plenty of work to be done, starting with a final Confederations Cup match against Egypt, before a busy summer of Gold Cup action and World Cup qualifiers. Click to continue reading...

The transition from playing soccer at the collegiate level to the professional ranks finally seems to be smoothing out for Nybergsund-IL Trysil defender Connor Tobin. Click to continue reading...

Jay Needham and Alta drilled Sarpsborg while Connor Tobin and Nybergsund struggled at Sogndal in Sunday's Norwegian action. Click to continue reading...

Jeff Cunningham and Kenny Cooper combined with an own-goal by CJ Brown gave the Chicago Fire their first defeat of the season--by a lopsided 3-0 score at that. With three starters missing due to injuries and international call-ups, a letdown by Denis Hamlett's side was somewhat to be expected. Click to continue reading...

With Chivas USA's loss at Toronto Wednesday night, the ranks of MLS unbeaten sides has thinned to two teams. The Chicago Fire are one (the New England Revolution are the other). Will this remain the case at the end of the weekend?
ASN's Jeff Tobin lays out the keys to Fire victory.

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A terrific performance by Cuauhtemoc Blanco was all but squandered at Toyota Park Saturday night, as the Chicago Fire let the Kansas City Wizards get away with a point from a 2-2 tie.
Jeff Tobin reports from Bridgeview, Ill., and supplies Fire player ratings. Click to continue reading...