Photo by ISIphotos.com

As you may have read elsewhere on Tuesday, there is a Belgian soccer team claiming to have signed New York Red Bulls youth prospect Johnny Exantus (left in photo).

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I read Shaka Hislop's article on the emerging club vs country debate that the US faces. At this point the US is cruising to World Cup qualification. They have had some less than flattering performance but lets face it, other than a total meltdown, the US should guarantee themselves a spot.

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Turkish national soccer team arrived on Friday in Armenia for their first match in 2010 World Cup qualifying group.

Turkey and Armenia will compete in group five together with Spain, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Estonia.

Turkish Soccer Federation Chairman Mahmut Ozgener said Turkey would have challenging games with Armenia. Click to continue reading...

The Turkish Football(SOCCER) Federation General Assembly elected Tuesday Mahmut Ozgener as the new federation president for the next period.

Ozgener who was the sole candidate in the elections, received 202 of the votes.

Speaking after the election, Özgener said he would not disappoint the people who put their trust in him and promised to strive for success of Turkish football. Click to continue reading...

Chicago Fire midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco has been suspended from U.S. Open Cup play for at least 2 years by the U.S. Soccer Federation. This comes after Blanco punched D.C. United player Clyde Simms in the stomach.  Blanco also supposedly head butted an employee that was trying to lead him off the field. Click to continue reading...

Read all about it here after the jump.


Here is an excerpt:

Chicago Fire star Cuauhtemoc Blanco has been suspended from U.S. Open Cup play for at least two years for his conduct during a quarterfinal game against D.C. United on July 8, a U.S. Soccer Federation panel ruled.

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Cuauhtémoc Blanco may have said adios to any US Open Cup action.

The U.S. Soccer Federation suspended Blanco for at least two years on Wednesday based on his bad behavior during the Chicago Fire's Open Cup quarterfinal game against D.C. United on July 8.

In that match, Blanco was accused of a few moves that aren't' even allowed in MMA - some eye gouging and head butting and at the end of the day, US Soccer decided Blanco's actions were worthy of a lengthy exit from the Open Cup. Click to continue reading...

Galaxy beat writer Scott Wolf gave a few tidbits of today's story in blog posts Friday and here we learn just how happy Coach Ruud Gullit is to punt Abel Xavier. So are we, Ruud, so are we.

A massive crowd is expected in New York for David Beckham, sorry, today's game (3:30 p.m. live on Fox Soccer Channel).

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NEWS: Dynamo players Stuart Holden of Sugar Land and Patrick Ianni have been named to the U.S. Olympic soccer team ahead of the Beijing Games, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced today. Both were candidates to make the team as they... Click to continue reading...

Friday in Brussels it was made official that Oguchi Onyewu is not only a US but also now a Belgian citizen. His naturalization, along with that of Standard teammate Mohamed Tchité was, made official in the Belgian government's Bulletin of Acts, Orders and Decrees posted at the end of the week. Click to continue reading...

Back in May I had the pleasure of going to Wembley Stadium and seeing England play against the U.S., which of course ended in a 2 - 0 victory for England. Sitting their at Wembley and knowing how important it is to the English players and fans to go and see their national team play at this magnificent stadium it made me think about the disadvantage that the U. Click to continue reading...

Maria Burns Ortiz opens her article on Brad Friedel's soccer academy in suburban Cleveland like this:

"Brad Friedel's Premier Soccer Academy is the kind of program that makes a soccer parent do a double take. The kind of program that is followed up quickly with a 'What's the catch?' The kind of program that Americans have a hard time comprehending, even though clubs like his are relatively commonplace in other parts of the world. Click to continue reading...

And then there were 16.

From U.S. Soccer Communications

www.ussoccer.com

CHICAGO (June 25, 2008) – U.S. Soccer has determined the possible pairings for the quarterfinals of the 2008 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The matches will be played on July 8, and feature the winners of the tournament's third round matches, to be played on July 1 across the United States.

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Our long-running series on player development in the USA continues with the unlikely story of Jorge Flores. He is the 18-year-old Mexican-American who won Univision's "American Idol"-like tryout "Sueño MLS."

As The New York Times writes, Flores "was the most valuable player for his team at Anaheim High and played for a club team in nearby Santa Ana. Click to continue reading...

It turns out that Ugo Ihemelu won't be a Canadian international after all. Deep down in this press release from the Canadian Soccer Federation amid news of the team's recent victory in a pre-World Cup qualifier is the fact that Ihemelu is on his way back to DSG Park following a FIFA decision he cannot play for Canada in the next World Cup. Click to continue reading...

(Very) late blogging this evening, but wanted to pass along that:
* Maykel Galindo, who has played in discomfort all season long finally underwent a second hernia surgery Wednesday and is likely lost until early August, the club said Thursday.

From the Chivas USA press release:

Galindo's surgery was performed by Dr.

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Ukraine could lose the right to co-host the Euro 2012 soccer tournament due to delays in the renovation of Kiev's Olympic stadium, an official from the Ukrainian soccer federation was quoted as saying on Thursday.

Needs some work... Click to continue reading...

Colorado Rapids' general manager, Charles Wright, casually mentioned on the From The Pitch radio show last night that Rapids' defender, Ugo Ihemelu, had been called up to the Canadian national team. No mention of it on the Rapids' website which has been quick to point out that Pablo Mastroeni has remained in the US squad for this weekend's pre-World Cup qualifier against Barbados whom they also play next week. Click to continue reading...

Ronaldo has flown to Paris for an operation that will determine when the striker will be able to resume his career.

The striker ruptured a tendon in his left knee in the Serie A fixture with Livorno and if the surgery goes to plan the Brazilian then faces up to nine months on the sidelines. Click to continue reading...