Great letter by Simoes. Having spent alot of time in Jamaica, I'd love to see the Reggae Boyz back and competitive. Time to bust out my old Jamaican jersey...

Anybody notice if Freddy played last night? I couldn't tell.

Freddy didn't play. There were some reports he was getting over the flu.

Goff,
Let's here if for Rudolph! you da man!

Wow, that Donetsk guy got away with what appears to be a swan dive in the box. Should have ended 2-0 Benfica.

Thanks for the post this morning. It made the almost 2 hour drive from Leesburg to Reston not quite so harsh.

Steve,

As always, thanks - I love seeing the clips and don't usually know where to find them. A couple observations:

1) Shakhtar definitely doesn't deserve to go through with that type of sloppy play in teh back. It reminded me a little of Roberto Carlos' early flaw at Bayern Munich in last year's CL that caused Madrid to never be able to recover.

2) Uniforms - Shakhtar's are a blatant rip off of AC Milan, but it was somewhat refreshing to see Benfica's pink.

3) Cordoza - what size! He looked like Jan Koller out there. That 2nd goal was all about his superior size. No way to stop that.

UEFA match-fixing rumors attached to that Liverpool-Besiktas 8-0 drubbing from a few weeks ago (Marca)...I wonder how serious this is...

Once that creature does stir, will Yukon Cornelius be far behind??

Excellent timing by the commentator on Benfica's second goal!

Hey Goff,

Great work on the blog, keep it up! I was wondering if you have any updates on possible DCU partnerships with other clubs, more specifically in South America. I think you mentioned a possible partnership with Boca Juniors or another Argentine club a while back. Any updates on that would be great. Thanks!

That was a GREAT letter -- especially the part about being united if not unanimous. That's clear thinking. It'll be fun to watch them play.

I was wondering if you have any updates on possible DCU partnerships with other clubs, more specifically in South America.
------
Nope, haven't heard anything.

Any word on TV coverage for the men? I would love to see this UMass - Chicago matchup. The battle of the Cinderellas.

I still think Wake will take it all in front of a large home crowd.

Merry Christmas - SouthEasterner....

Plug this url into your IE (CSTV hates foxfire) browser:

http://all-access.cstv.com/cstv/player/player.html?code=ncaa&sport=m-soccer&category=live

Goff--

There was a good question on Ives blog about the Red Bulls youth program and MLS rules about when those players could be signed.

Do you have any information if DCU intends to sign a couple of their youth players this coming year to the full roster/as developmental players? Any information on potential prospects on the DCU youth teams?

I don't know the policy, and frankly, at this point in the very early evolution of the program, there aren't any players that will play in MLS anytime soon.

Hey Steve,
Here's a quick Christmas Card for all you've done this year. Since times are a little slow I thought this might pick things up a bit.....

Looking forward to more news.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1178307268

not sure what happened there, but this is YOUR card... enjoy.

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1178680250

hilarious!

that's exactly how i dance

many thanks

sg

Frank Dell'Apa's article today about the potential for successful MLS teams to play well over 50 games was, if not exactly an earth-shattering revelation, notable for the fact that he lists the MLS season as having 30 games again.

I had thought each team would play 1 home and 1 away against all the teams in the other conference (totaling 14 games), 2 home and 1 away against 3 conference opponents (9 games), and 1 home and 2 away against the remaining 3 conference teams (9 games) for a total of 32 (14+9+9=32).

Just for reference, here is a list of DC's guaranteed and potential matches:

MLS: 30 (or 32)
CONCACAF Champions Cup: min. 2, max. 6
Superliga: min. 3, max. 5
US Open Cup: min. 1, max. 4
CONCACAF Champions League: min. 6, max. 11 (I'm speculating, using home-away group format, 2-legged quarterfinals and semifinals, and a one-off final)
MLS Playoffs: min. 0, max. 4
Copa Sudamericana: min. 0, max. 8
Club World Cup: min. 0, max. 3

DC United will thus have, excluding friendlies and reserve matches, a minimum of 42 games next year (44 if the MLS season is indeed 32 games), and a maximum of 71 (or 73 with a 32 game regular season). Now, the Champions League is supposed to take place from late summer/early fall '08 to spring '09, so at least some of those games will not count into this.

That said, I'm pretty sure we'll make the playoffs and get past our opening CONCACAF Champions Cup opponent. So, we're talking 46/48 games being a reasonable expectation (not to mention potential friendlies against local USL teams that always seem to happen).

Speaking of Freddy Adu, Goff I would love to get your take on this kid Charles Renkin. He came on for Arguez with the U-20s against Uruguay, and played against Argentina as well. I think he was born in Dec 1993, but he is already playing with the U-20s. Being the resident Adu expert, what is your take on Renkin?

Merry Christmas - SouthEasterner....

Plug this url into your IE (CSTV hates foxfire) browser:

http://all-access.cstv.com/cstv/player/player.html?code=ncaa&sport=m-soccer&category=live

Posted by: JSF | December 5, 2007 12:48 PM

Today is SinterKlaas (I'm Dutch) so its not early at all.

Thank you for the info!

Love seeing Goff do the Macarena. Nice tights!

I've never seen Renkin play in person, so hard for me to evaluate. I'll just pass along what I've heard: born in Africa (Zambia, I believe), grew up in the St. Louis area, invited to U-17 residency last winter, turns 14 in a few weeks, good skills, needs to gain strength.

We'll see...

it's hard to be the midwest when you're not even west of the mississippi

and i've lived in both illinois and ohio

i'm amazed that illinois claims to be the midwest, but watching weather reports in ohio is absolutely fricking nuts... has anyone there noticed how close they are to the east coast? yet they continually say they are in the midwest!!!

And Benfica makes it into UEFA Cup with the win!

Benfica's new pink away jerseys were a stroke of genius. Every male Benfiquista already had a red jersey (usually Costa's), but now all the women are buying the pink version.

Ohio is in no way part of the east coast, anything west of the app. mountains and north of the ohio river is midwest (pittsburgh is borderline midwest)

BBC is reporting that FA wants Beckham's power to bid England's 2018 worldcup!!! And he is willing if approched.

Illinois produces a lot of corn and is flat and treeless -- sounds like the midwest to me.

RE: Midwest

A little historical perspective. The designation "Midwest," while geographically absurd now, comes from a time when the western states were not yet states and the country, for all intents and purposes, ended near the Mississippi. Ever wonder why that university in Chicago is called Northwestern?

And, if you think about it, Texas is central, but try telling Texans that they're not out west. Try telling Texans anything.

Motagua beats Saprissa in the UNCAF Final to advance in the Champions Cup.

Hey there, I-270 Exit 1:

Some good folks down at the 'ol NSA tell me you got somethin' against us Texans. How 'bout you join me in Crawford next summer and I'll introduce you to some of my folk. You can tell 'em anythin' ya like. Ya hear?