So ladies and gentlemen, this marks post number 500 on the vaunted Hillcrest Road. While they haven't all been from me, I've been in the drivers seat for much of the ride, so I'd like to thank you all for reading. We hope that we're providing useful and fun information on the organization. We also want to make sure we're giving you what you want. Click to continue reading...

There have been plenty of articles over the years about the best Superdraft steals in MLS history. I'm sure everyone knows by now that Jeff Parke was the last pick of the 2004 draft, or that Jonathan Bornstein was a 4th rounder. Steve Davis gave us his top ten back in January at Soccernet in a nice piece. Click to continue reading...

Do you want the 411 on LD? Then ya gotta go to AC. With Bayern Munich supposedly interested in expanding their market to the U.S. and apparently insisting only the best 'Nat will do, Landon Donovan finally admits he would be open to a move back to Germany after all. NSC pal Andrea Canales gets the story from every angle over at Soccernet. Click to continue reading...

Salomon Kalou's header ten minutes from time cancels out Ji-Sung Park's opener and preserves Chelsea's unbeaten record at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea and Manchester United ends honors even at 1-1.

Unlike the Liverpool/Manchester United clash last weekend, this was more typical big four fare. The game wasn't pretty by any means, plenty physical and full of controversy.

Click to continue reading...

Michael Chopra's two goals in the final ten minutes are enough to see off Middlesbrough 2-0 at the Stadium of Light.A game that was more frantic than metered, this was a game that took a long time for anything to build. Yes both sides had plenty of chances (per Soccernet, 21 for Sunderland, 18 for [. Click to continue reading...

Michael Chopra's two goals in the final ten minutes are enough to see off Middlesbrough 2-0 at the Stadium of Light.

A game that was more frantic than metered, this was a game that took a long time for anything to build. Yes both sides had plenty of chances (per Soccernet, 21 for Sunderland, 18 for Middlesbrough), but not many tested either Craig Gordon or Ross Turnbull. Click to continue reading...

Montreal were big winners last night in the CONCACAF Champions League, beating Joe Public from T&T 2-0 at home. See all the details in the tournaments section.

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If you tune in tonight hoping to see Guillermo Barros Schelotto for Columbus you might be disappointed. Click to continue reading...

Virtually unknown CFR Cluj beat Roma 1-2 on the road in the UEFA Champions League yesterday! Wow!


CONCACAF Champions League News

Official CONCACAF website
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All televised games shown on FSC.
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Matches & Scores:
-Tue Sep 16
DC United 0-2 Saprissa - Sap goals by Walter Centeno & Jairo Arrieta. Click to continue reading...

Starting this month, I'm writing for ESPN's Soccernet on football across South America. These articles won't always include Argentine football, of course, but when they do I'll let you know here. This week the subject under the microscope is why the pressure of managing one of the world's top international sides is being cranked up [. Click to continue reading...

Okay, editing the previous post is not really going to work so well, so I will endeavour to produce one of those posts journalist-writing-about-journalists pieces that do so much to advance the sum of human knowledge. As mentioned before, William Moore's report is the best place to start. I did something for soccernet, but it [. Click to continue reading...

I look forward to seeing all of you in Chicago on Wednesday night!!

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Michael Essien has blown out his ACL while playing for Ghana, and will be out for at least the rest of 2008. Details from the BBC.

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World Cup Champion Italian flopper Fabio Grosso on the dive he took in the Penalty Box against Australia in the last World Cup: "Instinctively, despite the fatigue, I forced myself to drive into the opposing box and, I swear this is true even though many people don't believe it, the Australian player caught me totally deliberately with his shoulder and I went down. Click to continue reading...

I came across this the other day but forgot to post it. Newly minted left back Matt Marquess gets some props from Jeff Carlisle at ESPNSoccernet.com for his play late in the year for our boys in blue. Carlisle says if he keeps it up, his name just might be in the mix for rookie of the year at season's end. Click to continue reading...

Congrats to DC United - 2008 US Open Cup Champions!


US Open Cup

Final
Match & Score:
-Wed Sep 3
DC United 2-1 Charleston Battery - DCU goals by Luciano Emilio & Fred. CG goal by Ian Fuller.
Attendance: 8,212
Venue: RFK Stadium, Washington DC
Match report from the Washington Post. Click to continue reading...

Saturday August 30, 2008
Bolton Wanderers 0 West Bromwich Albion 0: BBC, Soccernet, Sun, Times, Daily Mail, Guardian, Independent, Sky Sports, Telegraph.
Everton 0 Portsmouth 3: BBC, Soccernet, Sun, Times, Daily Mail, Guardian, Independent, Sky Sports, Telegraph.
Hull City 0 Wigan Athletic 5: BBC, Soccernet, Sun, Times, Daily Mail, Guardian, Independent, Sky Sports, Telegraph. Click to continue reading...

653 days to till the World Cup

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Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated looks back at the Olympics: "(Kobe) Bryant has been following soccer closely in Beijing, attending at least three different games. When he went to the Brazil-Argentina men's semifinal he even sat in the common-man seats instead of the VIP section. Click to continue reading...

Picture via Soccernet.

Fulham v Arsenal: Brede Hangeland's goal twenty-one minutes proved to be the difference as Arsenal's shaky start continued by dropping points to Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Arsenal's forward play is more shocking right now than it was at any stage of last season.

Click to continue reading...

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

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

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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...

Note the full time results are in this blog. If you don't want to know the scores, please wait until you have finished watching said matches before looking at the reports.

Sunday August 24, 2008.
Wigan Athletic 0 Chelsea 1: BBC, Soccernet, Sun, Times, Daily Mail, Guardian, Independent, Sky Sports, Telegraph. Click to continue reading...

WHY IN THE NAME OF SWEET JIMINY HELL ARE THERE 3 MLS GAMES ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT????? THERE ARE WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS ALL OVER THE WORLD, AND THIS LEAGUE ALMOST NEVER PLAYS MID-WEEK GAMES! ALMOST EVERY GREAT PLAYER WILL BE OUT OF HIS CLUB TEAMS LINEUP. WHAT A JOKE! MLS CONTINUES TO FIND NEW WAYS TO LOOK STUPID, AND THIS IS COMING FROM A GUY WHO WOULD ALMOST KILL FOR THE LEAGUE! Click to continue reading...

Here is a compilation of all full time reports from the various UK websites.

Arsenal 1 West Bromwich Albion 0: BBC, Soccernet, Sun, Times, Daily Mail, Guardian, Independent, Sky Sports, Telegraph.
Bolton Wanderers 3 Stoke City 1: BBC, Soccernet, Sun, Times, Daily Mail, Guardian, Independent, Sky Sports, Telegraph. Click to continue reading...

Something to read after making either the best or worst career decision ever... Barcelona disrupt softball game (Glenn Davis Soccer) Ferencvaros fan invents green beer (Budapest Times) 10 best acrobatic goals in history (We Show) Does Olympic football matter? (Shanghaist) Chelsea make proper bid for Robinho (Soccernet) Who's more fickle, fans or players? 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 US Soccer store is having a clearance sale. Lots of goodies for cheap!

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Our FIS (Friend In Soccer) Greg Seltzer has launched a new blog called No Short Corners, with Sean O'Conner. They kicked it off yesterday. Check it out now.


SuperLiga

Official website
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Semifinals
Matches & Scores:
-Tue Jul 29
Houston 2-0 Pachuca - HD goals by Bobby Bowell & Corey Ashe. Click to continue reading...

Here's a semi-shocking stat: according to Kasey Keller 1/5th of all EPL teams will have a US keeper. Never thought about it but it's fairly rad. That and other revelations are, erm, revealed in this marathon interview with Soccernet's Shaka Hislop. And unlike his interview with Jozy Altidore, Hislop doesn't look in need of No Dose this time. Click to continue reading...

Landon Donovan declares that wants to play in England, and his agent confirms it is true. See MLS Rumor section.

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Freddy Adu has been loaned to Monaco by Benfica. See Americans In Europe section.

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My team, the Minnesota Thunder, have dismissed coach Amos Magee late today. Click to continue reading...

Sometimes you just have to copy and quote an entire article to get the full effect of what's in the report. Today is one of those days I suppose but I just read this bit of news off of Soccernet about some New England Revolution players who helped subdue a man on a flight. OKLAHOMA CITY [...] Click to continue reading...

For those who have been following my blog from the very early outset, you are familar with the Stream of Conscious blog. For those who have only started following my blog since moving to CSRN, the premise of the blog is simple. I watch a game live and as I'm watching it just whatever comes to my mind about a particular situation during the game you'll see my opinion of it.

Click to continue reading...

Done deal. Brad Guzan to Aston Villa. Luis Bueno of the enourmous Sideline Views blog with the details. Does he get the work permit this time? They must be quite certain of it or why would they go through this process again.

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Samuel Eto'o will be in the Twin Cities next Tuesday for the opening ceremony of the massive youth tournament, the USA Cup. Click to continue reading...

Breaking News: German goal keeper Jens Lehman blames the referee for their loss in the Euro Final. It was not Lehman's crappy play on the game winning goal that caused it! Hahahahahahaha. And good times were had by all.


UEFA European Championship 2008

The Final
-Sun Jun 29
Spain 1-0 Germany - Spa goal by Fernando Torres. Click to continue reading...

In a game nearly the opposite of the first Semifinal (which was nail biting to the final seconds), Spain slaughtered Russia 3-0 and wasn't even as close as the score. Russia seems to have used every bit of energy and creativity in defeating Holland. Spain lost star striker David Villa to a thigh injury, and THEN began hammering the opposition. Click to continue reading...

A really sad thing happened this week:
There has been a story on the local news about a murder at a hotel in Brooklyn Center (a suburb of Minneapolis). The victim it turns out was a guy I had met several years ago named Mohamed Jama.
He was a great guy that everyone knew around the Cedar Riverside neighborhood, and one of my biggest supporters when I helped start a soccer club there. Click to continue reading...

Today's Semifinal Match

-Wed Jun 25
Russia v Spain - 1:30pm central time on ESPN2
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The News

Phil Ball of Soccernet says Spain will have to play in their unlucky yellow shirts. Click to continue reading...

In case you hadn't heard, ABC is showing the Euro final on Sunday. But right before that they are showing the DC v LA showdown live from RFK! Awesome!


US Open Cup

Lots of 2nd Round games coming on Tuesday night!
Matches & Scores:
Carolina Railhawks v Real Maryland Monarchs
Richmond Kickers v Western Mass Pioneers
Minnesota Thunder v Cleveland City Stars
Pittsburgh Riverhounds v Rochester Rhinos
Atlanta Silverbacks v Miami FC Blues
Charlotte Eagles v Charleston Battery
Crystal Palace Baltimore v Harrisburg City Islanders
Seattle Sounders v Hollywood United
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Brian Quarstad at Blue Sky Soccer has audio of interviews with both coaches from tonight's Open Cup match:
-Amos Magee of the Thunder
-Martin Rennie of the Cleveland City Stars
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MLS News

CHICAGO FIRE

Vote today for the Chicago Fire All-Decade team. Click to continue reading...

I'm trying to write my Press-Enterprise column but nothing's coming out. I don't exactly have writer's block, just a case of the blahs.

Anyway, while I try and break out of the Monday morning doldrums, here are some links to keep both of us occupied:

Goal.com's Kyle McCarthy looks back at the weekend in MLS and breaks down the Galaxy's defensive miscues. Click to continue reading...

If you happen to notice a sense of relief coming from ESPN in the last few days, there is a reason for it.  It's because, while they are not coming in World Cup numbers, viewers are tuning in to the network's broadcasts of Euro 2008. ESPN announced today that, for the 15 Euro 2008 matches shown [.. Click to continue reading...