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The U.S. men's national team's next World Cup qualifier isn't for another three weeks but all U.S. fans want to talk about is which new players Bob Bradley will bring into the World Cup qualifying mix.

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Time is running out for MLS teams to make changes to their rosters this season; after 5:00 p.m., they will no longer be able to do so until MLS Cup has been played. With today being the 'deadline day,' should you expect to hear about any significant trades going down? Probably not, but names like Hunter Freeman, Abe Thompson and Herculez Gomez have all been on the move in the past week, showing that there are still teams out there willing to make a move at the last minute. Click to continue reading...

The Galaxy has always had a history of former players doing damage in the league. Before, I couldn't figure out if it was bad scouting that led to the release of so many players that did well elsewhere or perhaps just the natural consequence of trades, or maybe just roster limitations that did not allow the Galaxy to keep all of their players. Click to continue reading...

This team is not good. Today in Houston, it was abundantly clear, as the Wizards fell to Houston 3-1. In hot an humid conditions down in Houston, the Wizards lost Matt Marquess to cramps before the game had even started. When the game started the team came out a little sluggish, Houston did at the same time though, and it was a rather dull start to the game. Click to continue reading...

By JAMES CLARKEast Rutherford, New Jersey -- The lads and I spent a beautiful Sunday with 12,000-plus fellow fans at Giants Stadium and saw the resurgent New York Red Bulls impose themselves during a comprehensive 3-nil win over the Houston Dynamo in a match that was broadcast nationally on Spanish-language network Telefutura. Click to continue reading...

Argentina win Men's Olympic gold beating Nigeria 1-0

~and~

Cleveland City Stars win their 2nd consecutive USL Second Division championship.

~and~

Porto has a Brazilian forward named Hulk! Yes, Hulk! Don't you have to be a fairly big jackass to go by that name? Click to continue reading...

Jeff Parke is injured. Gabriel Chicero is suspended. Just how will the New York Red Bulls continue their five-match unbeaten streak against Western Division leaders Houston on Sunday (3p, TF)? Adding benched Norway-bound D Hunter Freeman may be the answer. On August 13th, Freeman signed with IK Start of Norway, though he won't join the club until January. Click to continue reading...

I'm getting up to watch the 6 a.m. U.S.-Brazil Olympic women's football final.

So briefly:
*The U.S. continued its domination of Guatemala Wednesday with a 1-0 win in the first game of the semifinal round of World Cup qualifying.

*Sven Wins For Mexico.

*CONCACAF WCQ Scores.

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Thursday, August 14th:

Los Angeles Galaxy 2 - Chivas USA 2

LA – Landon Donovan 14 (Chris Klein) 8'
CHV – Atiba Harris 2 (Paulo Nagamura) 50'
CHV – Paulo Nagamura 2 (Atiba Harris) 63'
LA – Alan Gordon 4 (Ante Jazic) 92'+
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Saturday, August 16th:

FC Dallas 1 - Columbus Crew 2

FCD – Jeff Cunningham 4 (Adrian Serioux) 35'
CLB – Brian Carroll 1 (Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Alejandro Moreno) 62'
CLB – Brad Evans 3 (Guillermo Barros Schelotto) 65'
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Saturday, August 16th:

DC United 1 - Chicago Fire 0

DCU – Fred 2 (Jaime Moreno) 27'
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Saturday, August 16th:

Real Salt Lake 3 - Houston Dynamo 4

RSL – Yura Movsisyan 1 (Robbie Findley) 3'
HOU – Brian Mullan 2 (Brad Davis) 16'
RSL – Javier Morales 4 (unassisted) 25'
HOU – Brian Ching 9 (Brian Mullan, Craig Waibel) 29'
HOU – Ricardo Clark 1 (unassisted) 35'
HOU – Nate Jaqua 1 (Brian Ching, Brad Davis) 42'
RSL – Kenny Deuchar 3 (Robbie Findley, Javier Morales) 80'
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Saturday, August 16th:

Kansas City Wizards 1 - Colorado Rapids 2

COL – Conor Casey 4 (Terry Cooke, Mehdi Ballouchy) 11'
KC – Michael Harrington 1 (unassisted) 44'
COL – Conor Casey 5 (unassisted) 47'
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Saturday, August 16th:

New England Revolution 0 - San Jose Earthquakes 4

SJ – Ronnie O'Brien 2 (Francisco Lima, Ramiro Corrales) 11'
SJ – Ryan Johnson 4 (Scott Sealy, Ronnie O'Brien) 71'
SJ – Scott Sealy 3 (Darren Huckerby, Nick Garcia) 76'
SJ – Ronnie O'Brien 3 (Darren Huckerby) 87'
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Sunday, August 17th:

Toronto FC 0 - New York Red Bulls 2

NY – Mike Magee 3 (Seth Stammler) 37'
NY – Juan Pablo Angel 7 (Dane Richards, Jorge Rojas) 92'+ Click to continue reading...

Not sure how I missed it, but you can all add Nate Jaqua to the Boomerang list. He got an assist over the weekend and should help the Dynamo retake the lead in the West.

Seems like more and more young Americans think MLS is the place to be. Click to continue reading...

Corey Ashe cracked his Penalty Kick off the crossbar and New England went nuts for the SuperLiga title. The game ended 1-1 after 90 minutes, and then both teams scored in 30 minutes of extra time to end 2-2. Houston scored first both times, but it was not enough in 120 minutes. So we went to Penalty Kicks and the Revs took it 6-5 in eight rounds. Click to continue reading...

The biggest surprise in this game might be that Lawndale's Kei Kamara actually found the net for Houston. The second biggest surprise: so did Houston's Nate Jaqua, the former goal-averse Galaxy forward.

The attendance without any Mexican teams involved in the final: just 9,232

*From the (edited) Galaxy press release:

reserve goalkeeper Charles Alamo and midfielder Michael Gavin each suffered serious injuries in Sunday night's reserve game in San Jose (a 1-0 loss) and will miss extended periods of time.

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Crew 0, Dynamo 2 Brad Davis(Brian Mullan) 13, Brian Ching(Nate Jaqua) 43 It's no fun to lose. I'm most disappointed that the Crew drops to 1.6 Points Per Game, the same figure as Chicago. That's a slide from 1.8 at the end of June. New England is at 1.9 PPG with two games in hand on [...] Click to continue reading...

The Houston Dynamo lost to the New England Revolution in the SuperLiga final on Tuesday night, but that setback didn't overshadow the fact that the defending MLS Cup champions are rounding into form at just the right time in MLS play.

Houston's 2-0 win over a quality Columbus squad showed just how well the Dynamo is playing as it moves toward its rightful place atop the West standings.

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A couple of defensive mistakes from the New England forced them to come from behind in both regulation and extra time, but the Revs fought back both times and eventually took the match to penalty kicks. Once there the team fell behind again, but this time came back and after 8 rounds emerged victorious 6-5 to claim the SuperLiga Championship. Click to continue reading...

July 28th:
Toronto FC 1 - Real Salt Lake 2
RSL - Jamison Olave 1 (Chris Wingert) 63'
TFC - Amado Guevara 3 (unassisted) 84'
RSL - Robbie Findley 5 (unassisted) 87'

August 2nd:
Chivas USA 0 - Chicago Fire 1
CHI - Patrick Nyarko 1 (Chris Rolfe) 16'

Kansas City Wizards 0 - D. Click to continue reading...

Hey, hey - here we go now. Well, not just yet, some telenovela is on. "No quiero verle nunca mas!" spits the heroine. Oh, ok, it's over now. Bring on SuperLiga! Post predictions quick!
Ha, the announcers know all about the Houston/Pachuca history.
"Houston wants revenge," they say. I've picked Pachuca to win, however, so I predict a heartbreaking 2-1. Click to continue reading...

The game that seemed like it would never be played finally was played last Wednesday and the result left you wondering whether D.C. United got tired of waiting.

Houston man-handled D.C., 2-0, at RFK Stadium in a game that had been postponed twice and was delayed for hours on the night it was finally completed.

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I get a kick out of people calling the MLS All-Star Game the All-Star Break. Where exactly was the break? Moving games from Saturday to Sunday?

Anyway, here are my latest rankings which came a day later than normal because of the RSL-Toronto match on Monday.

1. New England (10-4-3). Click to continue reading...

Running late today so just time to pass along a couple of items:

*Chivas USA goalkeeper Brad Guzan finds out next Friday whether he can complete his move to England's Aston Villa.

*Fed up with waiting for Lawndale's Kei Kamara to find the net on a regular basis, the San Jose Earthquakes have punted the Cal State Dominguez Hills product to the Houston Dynamo where he will hook up with equally productive (ahem) former Galaxy forward Nate Jaqua.

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Very simply, and I'm looking through the precise blog-writer's phraseology book right now to express my emotions on this point...

Uh, OH, here it is.

Yes.

No, wait a minute:

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!

OK, that's right.

Fallas' story here. Click to continue reading...

Houston Dynamo has waived young forward Franco Caraccio today. The young striker floundered with the Dynamo, managing two goals and an assist in 10 games for Houston. The re-signing of Nate Jaqua earlier this week and the Dynamo's aim to shop for at least one more forward for the second half of the MLS season made [. Click to continue reading...

According to Bernardo Fallas at the Houston Chronicle (click here for the original):

Forward Franco Caraccio has played his last game with the Dynamo, coach Dominic Kinnear said this morning following team practice at the Carl Lewis Complex.

If the Dynamo can't trade Caraccio by today, the team will waive the 21-year-old Argentine rookie less than seven months after inking him.

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Here's my effort to track players (all nationalities) on their way to MLS, MLS players heading elsewhere and U.S. players moving from foreign team to foreign team during this transfer window. The window to MLS closes Aug. 15. The window in Europe closes Aug. 31.

If I've forgotten someone, please speak up, with two caveats:

1.

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In case you read Eric Wynalda's comments on Claudio Reyna in today's notebook and wondering what the former U.S. forward and ESPN commentator is doing these days, the answer is he's in business with Joe-Max Moore. See the clip.

Wynalda says he doesn't miss TV at all, and he's watching more games than ever while spending time with his kids and occasionally playing with the PDL's Bakersfield Brigade.

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Two weeks ago you learned the Dynamo and Nate Jaqua were entertaining serious discussions regarding the forward's possible return to the MLS champs. Last Thursday you read the sides were getting close, then Saturday you found out the player had... Click to continue reading...

Nate Jaqua has returned to Houston after a half season in the Austrian Bundesliga that saw him score six goals and increase his profile. Jaqua even earned a call up to the US National Team after an almost three year... Click to continue reading...

Nate Jaqua has returned to Houston after a half season in the Austrian Bundesliga that saw him score six goals and increase his profile. Jaqua even earned a call up to the US National Team after an almost three year absence for the match against England at Wembley. I've seen some other publications hail [. Click to continue reading...

The day before the transfer window opens, we have a great "only in MLS" story: New England's Chase Hilgenbrinck is giving up soccer to join the priesthood.

In terms of surprise retirements, that ranks alongside Tampa Bay's R.T. Moore, who left the Mutiny to go to dental school.

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*A very strange thing happened* over the weekend. Well-traveled forward Nate Jaqua, out of... Click to continue reading...

Houston, the team who doesn't have an offense  has just given themselves what they so desperately needed.  Brian Ching is one of the most dangerous forwards in the league, but without another forward to play off of, he has been very average.  Houston have come to terms with a former player, Nate Jaqua who spent [. Click to continue reading...

Nate Jaqua has agreed to return to the Dynamo for the remainder of the season. Dynamo chief operating officer Chris Canetti said Saturday the forward could be added to the roster as early as next Saturday once the contract is... Click to continue reading...

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Nate Jaqua is in advanced discussions with Major League Soccer about a new contract, with a team source confirming the negotiations and another source saying the two sides are "close" to a deal that would return Jaqua to the Houston Dynamo, which he helped win MLS Cup last season.

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It sure appears that way. In an email to Houston reporter Bernando Fallas, Dynamo COO Chris Canetti said the possibility of Nate Jaqua returning to the two-time champions is very good. "I thought we were going to get it done on Wednesday but there have been a few lingering issues that we are trying to work [. Click to continue reading...

This according to the Soccer y Futbol blog:

"I thought we were going to get it done on Wednesday but there
have been a few lingering issues that we are trying to work out," Dynamo COO Chris Canetti wrote in an e-mail today. "The
latest proposal was shared with Nate's people this morning, and I'm
optimistic that it will come together.

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