Birthday of note: Close to home, New York Red Bulls’ central defender Stephen Keel turns 29 today. Recommended birthday gift: Brazilian blowout. Venturing abroad, Valencia wide man Pablo Hernández turns 27, right about the time where running 22.2 miles on Sunday to slow down Real Madrid starts to take its toll you.
Big, major, OMG story you must follow today: For Real Madrid, four is the magic number. They need to be four points in front of Barcelona by the time the teams meet at Camp Nou on Apr. 21. Else? Barcelona has the edge in La Liga. Today, los Merengues are only one point up on Barça, have a match in hand, and visit the Vincente Calderon to take on Atlético Madrid. So … they kinda need to win, yeah?
RASNoD (Random American Soccer Name of the Day): Mark Chung.
Ahead on the blog today*: Your MLS Panic Quotient (®), thoughts on MLS disciplinary dissension, and some bits and bops on all randomness of mid-week match days.
Twitter dap: D.C. United defender Brandon Marshall takes lunch very seriously:
Lil catch up reading on this nice Tuesday afternoon! http://yfrog.com/ntaw4uej
The link? (You got a hint, above.)
When your adversary has thin crust, respond with thick.
PST background noise while blogging today: Without irony, listening to Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic”.
We’ll leave you with: Notice that small, vacant spot in the U.S. soccer landscape? Probably not, but by this time each of the last three years, Women’s Professional Soccer had started their season. This year, WPS is in this strange, indefinite, suspended-league limbo, leaving a lot of us without our women’s soccer fix. While admittedly, I didn’t shed a tear when WPS hit the brakes, now I miss those afternoon matches on FOX Soccer and the dense Twitter devotion that accompanied them. Now, the best remnants of WPS can be seen on Tumblr, but that’s nowhere near enough. We need a women’s, professional, first division soccer back. Soon.
* – insert standard disclaimer here. No, there.
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Tim Cahill is the first Major League Soccer man to qualify for the World Cup.
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Our weekly re-ordering of Major League Soccer teams, following 16 rounds of play:
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Some of the best U.S. success in the past has come when the United States was backed into a corner. Tonight looks much different:
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There are a few choices to be made ahead of Tuesday’s match in Utah:
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About that brilliant atmosphere last week in Seattle: Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah will rock, too
Jun 18, 2013, 12:30 PM EDT
Unsaid in this narrative is this: most U.S. sites are bright and alive these days.
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Stuart Pearce has been relieved of his duties as manager of England’s U-21 squad.
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Australia join Brazil and Japan as nations that already have booked their place in next summer’s World Cup.
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Talking about what’s ahead, plus more on tonight’s match at Rio Tinto Stadium outside Salt Lake City:
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Scottish football takes another hit as Hearts prepare for administration
Jun 18, 2013, 7:56 AM EDT
Hearts have put the entire squad up for sale to raise the reported £500,000 needed to get the club to the start of the season.
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Big opportunity ahead as United States faces Honduras in World Cup qualifying action
Jun 18, 2013, 6:00 AM EDT
The teams meet tonight outside Salt Lake City as the drive for Brazil 2014 moves forward:
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Huge cost of World Cups: Did we need a protest like Brazil’s to point out the obvious?
Jun 18, 2013, 12:10 AM EDT
Reuters
Brazil has infrastructure concerns. They’ve also spent $3.3 billion on soccer stadia. No surprise, people aren’t happy.
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Christian Eriksen’s potential for Borussia Dortmund a particularly cloudy picture
Jun 17, 2013, 10:43 PM EDT
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The mythology of Ajax, Dutch soccer and one stars’ struggles outside the Dutch league make this potential transfer difficult to evaluate.
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Ancelotti may be impatient, but Real Madrid wait should prove inconsequential
Jun 17, 2013, 8:23 PM EDT
It’s only a matter of time before Ancelotti’s holding pattern’s resolved.
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Early returns from England’s offseason tell a tale of two Manchesters
Jun 17, 2013, 7:39 PM EDT
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It’s early days, but while City close the gap, Manchester United have yet to act.
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This André Villas-Boas to Paris Saint-Germain link makes more sense by the day
Jun 17, 2013, 6:51 PM EDT
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With a buy-out in his contract, Villas-Boas likely will be given a choice between Paris and London.
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Honduran international Maynor Figueroa completes move to Hull City
Jun 17, 2013, 5:59 PM EDT
Reuters
Steve Bruce reunites with a player he brought to Wigan Athletic.
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It’s time FIFA reconsiders the Confederations Cup bid to the Oceania region
Jun 17, 2013, 5:19 PM EDT
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Tahiti are a great story, but nobody wins when small countries get slaughtered by the world’s top teams.
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Vacation up soon for U.S. national team men – but not yet!
Jun 17, 2013, 4:45 PM EDT
A big theme is finishing strong so there’s more enjoyment in those vacations ahead:
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The U.S. midfielder has successfully completed the concussion recovery protocol:
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Monday’s Transfer Rumor Roundup: Bale to PSG and Koscileny wanted by Bayern and Barcelona
Jun 17, 2013, 3:38 PM EDT
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So just how serious are PSG? Word has it they’re ready to break the Premier League transfer record.
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Video: Police clash with protesters in Brazil
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Video: Highlights: Sounders win in final minutes
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Video: Highlights: Revolution dismantle Galaxy
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Video: What does New York FC have to do to succeed?
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Video: The Hype: Bending the screen like Beckham
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Video: Galaxy's Rogers talks about coming out to the public
