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Tuesday Kickoff: Notes on Columbus, KC and more

Guillermo Barros Schelotto 2 (ISIphotos.com)

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Good morning all. It's already a busy Tuesday so let's just jump right into the action:

The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Guillermo Barros Schelotto is ready to secure his green card, a move that would suggest Schelotto isn't quite ready to leave MLS. The Dispatch also reported the Crew's re-signing of forward Jason Garey.

Sources tell me that the Kansas City Wizards are set to sign a midfielder and defender, with the signings potentially being introduced today. The defender is one of the Colombian defenders signed by MLS last month.

Those of you awaiting word on the Chicago Fire head coaching position should find out later on today who the choice is. Former El Salvador head coach Carlos De Los Cobos is being reported as the pick, but as of this morning no deal has been finalized.

ESPN is set to launch a 3D channel in June, and it will kickoff with a World Cup match on June 11th.

Struggling Setanta has dropped the Premier League from its schedule and looks set to be taken over by Fox Sports.

Owen Coyle is set to leave Burnley for Bolton. No word on what that will mean for Stuart Holden's trial at Burnley.

That's all for now. I will look to add to this post shortly. For now, share your thoughts on the above stories in the comments section below.

Comments

  1. I’d think there’s something to it. DirecTV takes a while to update their schedules. If Setanta’s site no longer has the matches listed for this weekend, I’d think that’s quite significant.

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  2. Ives, I don’t mean to be mean or anything but who are your “sources” that go along with the Chicago Fire. You have not been right at all with any of your postings about them for a long time.

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  3. What it means is EPL Talk is just reporting an unsubstantiated rumor. Arsenal-Everton and the usual array of weekend Premier League matches show up on the Setanta schedule on my DVR.

    Whatever service Directv uses for listings was slacking heavily the last week or so, however, with many upcoming shows/matches described as “TBA” but this was for many other channels (including non-sports channels) and not just Setanta. All Premier League matches on ESPN have been listed as TBA for the last few months, so this is nothing to panic about, yet.

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  4. I live in North Texas, currently subscribed to TWC.

    I’m switching to whichever provider picks it up by FEB, hopefully FIOS, to improve my cable, phone, and internet connectivity. In the last month TWC has had a ‘local outage’ 4 times, each lasting several (8-10) hours in which I have none of the aforementioned services.

    FSCHD!

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  5. Everything coming out of MLS right now seems to be in the right direction for soccer in this country.

    Sounders actually drawing fans, keeping Landon, vying for Holden, signing good players, another great draft…..except for one thing.

    CBA please.

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  6. What would be sweet is if Jo’s departure from Everton (inevitable I think) would give Everton an opportunity to swoop in for Jozy. They were after him before. I think thats the ideal environment for him to thrive. He wouldn’t have to start up top alone- he’d have a great midfield giving him service. I’d love for this to happen!!

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  7. That must have been one hell of a party…

    I tend to agree though. Over the holidays, I got Setanta, GolTV, FSC and some other soccer trending channel on my mother’s ATT U-Verse for the same price (plus 3 months free) that T-W charges me for FSC alone here in Maine. I think being the sole individual populating the “rabid soccer fan” demographic in Maine hurts my choices though.

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  8. That’s my hope as well…seems that if MLS would consider teams such as Crystal Palace/Baltimore that this growth and competition would come faster. I think that an MLS-2 would make the space for additional teams in markets that are maybe marginal (in MLS’ mind) attractive to Euro and South/Central American clubs.
    Interesting to speculate on something like this happening…but probably not going to happen anytime soon.

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  9. I just checked Setanta’s TV listings, http://www.setanta.com/US/TV-Listings/, and while the matches they had listed for the weekend are gone, they’re still listing the Stoke-Fulham match today, and Arsenal-Bolton live tomorrow. In fact, they just changed Stoke-Fulham to live coverage, as opposed to just the delayed showing, because the match they were going to show, the CC cup semi, was postponed due to snow.

    Don’t know what it means, but they’re obviously paying attention to keeping it up to date.

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  10. Once the level of play (or the status of the MLS as a competitive league) is better, I definitely could see that happen.

    Especially with big clubs who want to market the U.S., they could definitely ‘test’ the waters with some of their young guys here. Maybe Man U can quit sending everybody to Royal Antwerp and send them stateside.

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  11. Just talked with my cable provider (Time-Warner) and they don’t have plans to pick up the FSC HD channel in the near future.

    /pours a little beer on the ground in mourning

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  12. OK, Thanks Ives.

    Same subject (kind of) with the ‘partnerships’ formed with a number of European clubs and MLS teams, do you think that this is likely to bring about inter team loans in the future?

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  13. makes no sense for hull to loan out VofH, he’s not a young guy they need to develop in order to get a return on their investment. as a jozy fan though id love to see VofH gonezo and someone like fraizer campbell brought in

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  14. Here’s a question for you Ives…If Chivas Guadalajara want to send Ramon Morales to Chivas USA how will that work from a transfer perspective? Would it be the same as a transfer from any club or would the relationship between the clubs bypass the normal transfer rules???

    (SBI-Chivas would still have to abide by the FIFA transfer window rules. More than likely Chivas would send Morales on loan so as to circumvent the MLS salary cap.)

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  15. So Fox Soccer is taking back all their rights sold to Setanta, which will *fingers crossed* be bought by ESPN or shown on the other Fox related channels. It’s horrible timing for Setanta to stop paying for the rights to the EPL and Champions League, when FSC is spending loads of money going HD in a matter of days. I hope the games will be shown through another media outlet. I’d hate for Fox to start a subscription based website like Setanta-i which I ironically JUST cancelled my subscription to last night. They will need to sell the rights to someone to continue that income, but who wants to buy it?

    ————————————–

    Stuart Holden is good enough to play for Burnley, I just hope that the new manager sees that and keeps Holden on trial. Does anyone know whether or not Holden’s trial has all ready begun?

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  16. Can’t see it going through when they need strikers to score and with little money to spend in the transfer window. I can see them selling to fund a move for a more prolific striker but a loan doesn’t do Hull any good.

    Jozy would benefit from a loss of striking competition but I don’t think we will see the best from him until he is paired with a speedy striker or a powerful one to bounce Jozy’s abilities. A Defoe or Jones comes to mind – and no they can not afford either one.

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  17. I sincerely doubt Holden is going to “say no” to a Premiership club if the offer is made. Are you crazy? He’s not Christiano Ronaldo.

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  18. If I recall, he is a coached in mexico to some success. He is def. one of those coaches who gets the most out of his players and is not affraid to go with his talented youth players. He was highly regarded in El Salvador and they wanted him to stay but his salary was just way more than the festfut was willing to pay. A shame really. He has something good brewing down in el salvador.

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  19. Here’s an interesting report/rumor.

    “According to the Daily Mirror, Middlesbrough boss Gordon Strachan wants to sign Hull City striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink on loan for the rest of the season after working with the Dutchman at Celtic.”

    Obviously this, should it happen, would bode well for Jozy at Hull and provide him the PT pre-WC.

    Ives, any word on this???

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  20. yo ives, any chance you’d be able to get the interview Lando did for EvertonTV? you need a subscription to view it on their website

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  21. 3D really? Yup, that is what my friends are going to do on a Monday night- don 3D glasses while drinking Buds- come on this is a stupid idea. I have to wear safety glasses every day for work and it drives me nuts- you think I want to come home everyday and put on 3D glasses to watch tv. Maybe ESPN should buy up Setana rather than 3D glasses.

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  22. Ives, what are your thoughts on CDLC as the Fire’s pick. I confess that I don’t know much about his reputation or history beyond the surprisingly capable El Salvador side in this last qualifying cycle.

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  23. What makes you think that ESPN wants to showcase the World Cup in 3D? Why partner with someone to do it elsewhere when the very point of launching a 3D channel is for people to WATCH it?

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  24. If ESPN wants to showcase the World Cup in 3D, why not partner with movie theater chains and give a proper showing? I’d pay $10 to sit in a high-def, IMAX theater and watch the US play with 100 other fans, in 3D. I’d pay it without the 3D!

    However, I won’t spend any extra money to sit at home to watch it or pay extra at a bar.

    Reply

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